LIBRARY OF CONGRESS .? 
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PROGRESS 



CONSIDERED 



WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE 



METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, SOUTH 



y 

BY THE KEV. WILLIAM J. SASNETT, 

OF EMORY COLLEGE. 



EDITED BY T. O. SUMMERS, D.D. 




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Nasijbtllc, Qitnn.: 

PUBLISHED BY E. STEVENSON & F. A. OWEN, AGENTS, 

SOUTHERN METHODIST PUBLISHING HOUSE. 

185G. 



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Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S55, by 

WILLIAM J. SASNETT, 

In the Office of the Clerk of the District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. 



STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY A. A. STITT, 
METHODIST PUBLISHING HOUSE, NASHVILLE, TENN. 



CONTENTS. 



I. A More Complete Development of Church 
Functions Necessary. 

II. The Educational Function. 

III. The Literature Function. 

IV. The Eleemosynary Function. 
V. The Missionary Function. 

VI. The Ministerial Function. 

VII. The Spiritual Function. 

VIII. Additional Considerations in Favor of 
This Ampler and More Active Church 

System. 



(3) 



PREFACE 



A conviction that Methodism might be, with great 

usefulness, more closely identified with the forces of 

society, and expanded in the sphere of her operations 

— that the time has come when the activities of the 

Church ought to be enlarged — when she ought to seize 

upon and employ a greater number and variety of the 

agencies of diffusion and improvement, has induced the 

composition and publication of this book. Abounding, 

as it does, in practical suggestions, in proposed plans 

and measures of improvement, in avowals of decided 

opinion in respect of matters of immediate concern to 

the Church, the author can hardly anticipate a universal 

concurrence of sentiment with him on the part of all who 

may read his work, or expect that all his views will be 

carried into actual practical execution — yet, he does 

hope to be instrumental in putting into circulation ideas 

that are important to the Church and society ; that so 

many of his thoughts may find a lodgment in the public 

mind; that so many of his views may be practically 

embraced, as that this effort to make himself useful shall 

not be in vain. 

Oxford. Ga., 1855. 

(5) 



SECTION I. 

A MORE COMPLETE DEVELOPMENT OP CHURCH FUNCTIONS 
NECESSARY. 

The development of the popular element peculiar to 
modern times, favored by the remarkable facilities for enter- 
prise and expansion, has given, in the present day, signal 
activity to the spirit of progress. A common feature every- 
where of both individual and social tendency, it is restricted 
in its manifestation to no department of human interest ; and 
the Church herself, in her movements and policy, has begun 
largely to feel its influence. 

Progress, so far as it involves simply the ideas of alteration, 
modification, amendment, even as applied to Methodism, is 
not necessarily an evil. Repudiating the dogma of the Di- 
vine revealment of any specific form of Church government, 
it admits that her form is of human origination, and hence 
the possibility of its improvement. Indeed, progress in this 
sense, so far from being an evil, is a necessity. Methodism 
has been practically efficient and successful, above all other 
ecclesiastical organizations, mainly because in its specific fea- 
tures it had a precise adaptation to a greater number of the 
existing aspects of society. As therefore these aspects neces- 
sarily change, many of these features are temporary only in 
their effective operation, and must be substituted by others, 
else the organization is burdened with useless appendages and 
shorn of its efliciency. There are some great principles of 
Methodist economy which, deeply laid in the elements of 
human nature and in certain unchangeable relations of man 
to his Maker, are equally applicable to all generations, and 



8 PROGRESS. 

their integrity should be maintained with ceaseless solicitude 
But there are many things referring to policy, modes, and 
usages, which, to secure the continued practical efficiency of 
the Church, to expand her capabilities, and enlarge the sphere 
of her usefulness, must be subjected to changes, modifica- 
tions, and improvements corresponding with the changing 
aspects of society. Change, therefore, as such, is not neces- 
sarily to be resisted, and, even in respect to Methodism, may 
be not only admissible, but desirable. 

The spirit of progress, as manifested generally, has exhi- 
bited itself under two forms. As a mere spirit of energy and 
enterprise, subordinating itself to thought and virtue, it is 
the glory of the age — conservative, yet independent and ex- 
pansive. But as a mere impulse of restlessness and boldness, 
which, impatient of the authority of the past, despises its 
restraints, and, controlled by an excessive self-appreciation, 
knows no guides but those of caprice and expediency, it is 
revolutionary and fearful. 

Among Methodists and as applied to Methodism, both of 
these forms appear — the first manifesting itself as a progress 
of development, and the second as a progress of relaxation. 
Of the latter, we do not propose to write in the present vol- 
ume. It is a subject, however, of great importance at this 
particular juncture, the right discussion of which would 
doubtless confer much public benefit. 

The progress of development is based upon this general 
idea, that, though Methodism in its beginning may have had 
a precise adaptation in its economy to the then existing wants 
of the people, yet, because of the progress of society, both 
in respect of religion and civilization, since that period, there 
are other functions of usefulness, properly belonging to the 
Church, which ought to be brought into exercise, and which, 
that the Church may not be recreant to her responsibilities 
and inefficient in her operations, should now be developed 



PROGRESS. 9 

No Church organization, that is in the highest degree effect- 
ive, can embrace, in any one period, all that she needs for 
every future period. It is for this reason, doubtless, that 
Revelation is silent in respect of the precise form of Church 
government. 

Mr. Wesley, the framer of Methodism, sagacious and yet 
practical in the order of his mind, seized upon the prominent 
object of evangelical operations in his day, and wisely adapt- 
ed his scheme with specific reference to its accomplishment, 
content, no doubt, with an abiding conviction that the provi- 
dential and self-adjusting character of his organization would 
always secure, in each age of its existence, an adaptation ne- 
cessary to entire suitableness and perfect efficiency. 

And now the period has arrived when the very success of 
Methodism and the generally altered condition of society have 
placed the Church in such attitude, that her original system 
has become relatively a contracted one, and fails to fulfil all 
the functions required of her. The vast numbers she has 
brought within her fold have devolved upon her responsibili- 
ties which, in the outset being comparatively free from, for 
them, in the arrangement of her system, no sufficient provision 
was made. Besides the pulpit, the progress of the times has 
made it proper to employ other instrumentalities auxiliary to 
it, and which must be incorporated as necessary, not only to 
highest efficiency, but even to vitality itself. Methodism, 
therefore, though once all that the age demanded, is now re- 
latively a narrow, restricted system. There must be develop- 
ment. There must be expansion. There must be a readjust- 
ment of it, in the taking on of new and additional agencies, 
and in the modification of existing features, bringing it there- 
by into more comprehensive and suitable relationship to the 
circumstances and wants of modern society. 

The Church of God, considered as an institution ordained 
to diffuse and maintain the Christian religion in the world, is 
1* 



10 PROGRESS. 

designed to embrace, at every period, as integral parts of her 
own system of operations, every agency which the condition 
and circumstances of society at that period will allow, that 
may be made tributary to the moral elevation of mankind. 
It is not enough that she should devote herself to the pro- 
mulgation of Divine truth, through the ordinary channels of 
the ministry, and rely for success upon such influences as Di- 
vine power gives to that truth thus made known ; but what- 
ever practicable forces of society, which, if subjected to the 
direction of the Church, would give spread and effect to the 
truth, and contribute to the power and success of the Church, 
not only may be employed as constituent parts of the great 
scheme of the Church, but are in fact actual functions of it, 
without which the system necessarily is incomplete, partial, 
inadequate. It is a striking characteristic, and as such, a 
marked defect of all Protestant Churches, that, in their 
scheme of operations, they are all contracted and partial. In 
none of them is there that expansion of sphere by which 
every variety of agency adapted to usefulness is appropriated. 
Hence, in Protestant countries a large proportion of the 
forces of society, left to the control of the State or of secular 
combination, are permitted in respect of Christian progress 
to run to waste, or rather to grow up as so many antagonisms 
to the Christian cause. In these matters, the Romish Church 
is wiser and far in advance, and it is to this more efficient 
policy she is indebted for her chief success. 

Divided as Protestant Christianity is into various sects, the 
energies of the Churches have been expended thus far mainly 
in controversies upon doctrinal truth, and in settling the many 
questions of ecclesiastical policy, leaving, as yet, but little 
opportunity for the origination and execution of those practi- 
cal plans of enterprise and improvement suggested by exist- 
ing wants of society. And Methodism, if not hindered by 
like causes, has thus far been well-nigh as effectually defeated 



PROGRESS. 11 

in all expansive, comprehensive plans of usefulness, by the 
one-idea enterprise, glorious though it was, to which in the 
outset it was consecrated, and upon which its whole economy 
has been well-nigh exclusively concentrated. 

But society is expanding. Powers hitherto dormant are 
being developed with wonderful force among all ranks and in 
all departments, and the Church, if she would retain her effi- 
ciency, and more especially, if she would step forth to the 
embracement of every advantage for power and success, must 
be content no longer with mere partial, surface operations, 
but, promptly availing herself of every opening offered, must 
profoundly and intimately identify herself with all the move- 
ments of society, and become its controlling, guiding element. 
This, in truth, is the true relation of the Church to society, 
and, until attained, her functions are incomplete and her 
mission incapable of fulfilment. 

Such being the demand now upon the Church, we propose 
to point out those of her functions which, in the present state 
of society, ought to be developed. 



SECTION II. 

THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 

Though the world has not yet very generally adopted the 
principle, yet we assert it as true, that Education is properly 
a function of the Church. 

Education, from the relation of the parties receiving it to 
those providing it, is emphatically a scheme of benevolence. 
But the Church is essentially a benevolent institution, and, 
possessed as her dominant principle of the disinterested spirit 
of her divine Head, is necessarily committed to every cause 
which promises amelioration and improvement to men. Her 
appropriation, therefore, of the educational scheme, is but a 
result to which her genius and spirit legitimately tend. 

Education is an element of force, contributing more than 
all other human agencies to the improvement of the human 
species, and the consequent elevation of it to that condition 
in which Christianity may most effectually use it for the glory 
of God and the triumphant establishment of his kingdom. 
The Church, therefore, whose appointed business it is to 
leave no means unemployed that will in any way contribute 
to the progress and success of Christian interests, can leave 
no agency so important unappropriated, but must use it as a 
function legitimately her own. 

Education has so long and intimate a connection with 
human life, at its most impressible season, that it is suscepti- 
ble, above all other agencies, of being rendered an auxiliary 
or an antagonism to the religious well-being of men. Left to 
itself, and unsanctified by religious direction, it may and does 
become an agent of direct opposition to Christianity; but, 
subordinated to its control, and conducted under its auspices, 

(12) 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 13 

it becomes both, the occasion and the instrument of Christian 
elevation and progress. 

And, additional to the immediate moral effects of which it 
is capable, during the period of its actual process, there are 
influences, the result of it, which, through the forms of lite- 
rature, and the various methods of forming and controlling 
public opinion, largely enter into all the elements of society, 
and which, in their effect, are potent for or against Christian- 
ity, according as the processes of education, during its insti- 
tutional period, were or were not subjected to the control of 
the Church. 

A force in society, therefore, so universally powerful in its 
susceptibility of impress upon the interests of Christianity, 
cannot be left, as to its control, to the mere chances of for- 
tune, but necessarily must be subjected to the management 
of the Church, as a constituent part of its own system of 
operations. 

But can the Church properly discharge the educational 
function thus appropriately hers, when attempted through the 
medium of the State ? Or, to change the form of expression, 
when education is made a function of the State, can it be 
conducted as a function of the Church ? 

It is a characteristic of all institutions, to come under the 
influence, in the spirit and aims with which they are con- 
ducted, of the power which gave being to and maintains 
them. While, therefore, education, when dispensed by the 
Church, in her organic capacity, will be conducted under 
influences appropriate to the Church, the tendency is, in 
respect of education dispensed by the State, to subject it to 
the spirit of the State — a secular, and too often a proud, 
ambitious spirit. 

Education, when dispensed as an immediate function of 
the Church, is subjected to the conduct of men who are 
selected with reference to th6 high moral qualifications they 



14 PROGRESS. 

blend with literary and scientific fitness; but, when con- 
trolled as a function of the State, repudiating the idea of 
sectarian association, the selections are made mainly with 
reference to mere intellectual qualifications; and the Board 
of Instruction, therefore, is not always constituted of those 
calculated to make education available to the Christian cause. 

As a direct function of the Church, the conductors of 
education are authorized and expected to exercise, not only 
positively personal influence, but, constantly and efficiently, 
the immediate agencies of Christianity, to sanctify education, 
and to subject those seeking it not only to the control of a 
high standard of personal morals, but to the dominion of 
Christianity itself. But, when controlled through the medium 
of the State, the dread of the suspicion of undue sectarian 
influence, and of the spirit of proselytism, must necessarily 
hamper the energies of the most zealous, and, to a large 
extent, hinder those positively aggressive influences which 
alone could secure any very positive results in behalf of 
Christianity. 

A comparison of the results of the two systems, in respect 
of the morals and Christianity of society, ought to be con- 
sidered a very suitable test of their relative capabilities of 
influence. It has only been within recent years that the 
system of education, as an immediate function of the Church, 
has been brought into operation, on any thing like an 
extended scale. The oldest graduates of any of our purely 
denominational colleges are but lately on the theatre of 
public action, and yet, as respects those employments of 
life which are benevolent in their tendency — which have 
a decided bearing upon the interests of Christianity and 
the real weal of society — statistics will, doubtless, show 
that a larger number, proportionably, of those educated in 
denominational colleges are to be found in them, than of 
those educated in State institutions. And, as a further tesi. 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 15 

we venture to assert that the moral and religious condition 
of the mass of the students in denominational colleges to-day 
is higher than that of those in State universities. We mean 
no reflection upon these institutions, and upon the many 
noble spirits who have attended them and are now connected 
with them. These institutions have rendered most valuable 
service to society, and are now largely contributing to the 
onward progress of education; and if the Church were not 
in a situation to do as much for the cause of education, and, 
at the same time, through it promote the higher cause of 
Christianity, we should still adhere to them, as the distin- 
guished fountains of elevated education. But the truth is, 
the very relations of these institutions to the sources of their 
being necessarily disqualify them for any thing like decided 
and positive influence in favor of Christianity; while, in 
respect of education, as an immediate function of the Church, 
religious results are but an integral and intended part of their 
ordinary operations. 

But it is sometimes urged, in behalf of education as dis- 
pensed through the medium of the State, that, while it leaves 
the young mind unbiased in its decisions upon religious 
truth, and, consequently, free in mature years to adopt its 
own independent views in respect of Christianity, that a 
necessary tendency of education, when controlled immediately 
by the Church, is to secure an early commitment to views 
and principles of religion. This argument would have weight 
with infidels or skeptics; but with those who believe in 
Christianity, and feel the importance of an early inclination 
of the heart to its spirit and precepts, and who are, at the 
same time, aware that this Church system contemplates the 
establishment of representative institutions by all the various 
Church organizations, and, consequently, the privilege afforded 
to every man of access to an institution in which Christianity 
is taught suitably to his own faith, it is a consideration which 



16 PROGRESS. 

can only have the opposite effect from the one designed and 
tend to establish the system it was aimed to overthrow. It 
is, in truth, a positive concession of the principle claimed, 
that education, as an immediate function of the Church, is 
more successful in its influence in behalf of Christianity, than 
it can be when conducted through the medium of the State. 

The State can never fulfil the religious conditions involved 
in the management of the interests of education. It has 
assumed their management merely because, in failure of the 
Church, it was driven to it as a public necessity. The suc- 
cess of the Church, in all her direct efforts to control the 
education of the people, proves that, of right, it belongs to 
her, and that she ought, by her own prompt, sufficient action, 
so to provide for all its demands, as to leave no reason for the 
secular arm to interfere in the control of this great public 
interest. Should it interfere at all, (which we thoroughly 
doubt,) let its efforts be limited to mere pecuniary aid, in the 
building up and extension of enterprises already planned and 
controlled by the Church. An interest so intimately con- 
nected with the fortunes of Christianity ought never to be 
left to the control of a secular power, but recognized, as one 
of its own immediate functions, should be provided and 
conducted by the Church herself, on a scale commensurate 
with its own high claims and the most extended wants of the 
whole country. 

But if the Church does sustain this relation to the great 
scheme of education, what now are those conditions which 
must be fulfilled to effect the right development of this 
function ? 

The first condition is, that she adopt the method of tho- 
roughly identifying herself with it by appointing, as far as it 
is practicable, her own ministers as its conductors. 

If it be true that education is properly a part of the sys- 
tem of the Church, of course it follows that, in its manage 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 1< 

ment, the object should be to bring it in as close relations to 
the Church as possible. The influence of the Church and of 
the sanctities of religion upon it will be in the direct ratio of 
the degree in which the church is identified with it, in its 
immediate management. The ministry are the leading re- 
presentatives of the Church, in her organic capacity, every- 
where, and especially in Methodism; and their immediate 
management of any agency, as appointed to it by the Church, 
through her constituted authorities, is necessary to secure the 
most perfect and intimate connection of the Church with it. 
The fulfilment of this condition at once determines it to be a 
constituent part of Church operations — it at once gives to it 
the imprimatur of the church — and allying it everywhere 
through the connectional bond of the ministry with her func- 
tionaries, makes it, in the most intimate sense, an integral 
part of her system. Methodism may enact her regulations, 
expressive of her sense of the value of education and of her 
confidence in particular institutions : she may even contri- 
bute her means and patronage — and while all this may pow- 
erfully promote the interests of education as such, yet as long 
as she withholds her ministry — whose business it is under- 
stood to be to manage all her organic operations — from the 
immediate conduct of her educational operations, she, in that 
very policy, discredits and repudiates education as one of her 
own legitimate functions — she lowers and degrades it from 
the position of an integral element of the system of the Church, 
and denies herself consequently of the highest capabilities to 
make her educational operations tributary to her own advance- 
ment. 

A thoughtful consideration of the relation of the ministry 
to the public sentiment and efforts of the membership every 
where, in respect of all that claims to be integral parts of 
ecclesiastical operations, at once demonstrates the necessity of 



18 PROGRESS. 

the immediate alliance of the ministry with educational inter- 
ests, that the masses of the Church may award to those inter- 
ests such consideration, confidence, and cooperation necessary 
to constitute them in fact a part of the system of the Church. 
They may appreciate education — patronize and encourage it — 
but on no other principle will they recognize it as a regular 
function of the Church. 

The ministry, clothed with the highest ecclesiastical author- 
ity, and invested with office the most sacred, have greater facil- 
ities, by personal example and influence, to throw around the 
processes of education the sanctities and associations of Chris- 
tianity, and consequently greater advantages to give to this 
great power the religious direction and effect which, as a 
function of the Church, it of right must enjoy. 

Education under lay direction, under the most favorable 
circumstances, can enjoy only in a partial degree those direct 
and positive influences necessary to make it an element of 
religious experience and power; but controlled by those who, 
having the disposition, have also the authority and qualifica- 
tion, to connect with it the saving agencies of the G-ospel 
itself, at all times, and especially on appointed occasions, the 
power of the Gospel is mingled with the educational instru- 
mentalities employed, and thus the occasions of education 
becoming themselves a permanent theatre for the play of 
Gospel forces, education itself is moulded to the dominion 
and direction of the cause of God. 

It follows, therefore, that under any other direction, educa- 
tion, as an element of power, if subjected at all to the uses of 
Christianity, is not as a result provided for, but as a mere inci- 
dent and accident of the system, and that the Church can 
suitably provide for it as her own function — can secure to 
herself the necessary advantages to subordinate it to her own 
power and advancement — only by so allying it with her owd 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 19 

system as to make her ministers, in the order of her own ap- 
pointment and direction, its immediate guardians and dis- 
pensers. 

To object to this conclusion on the ground that it involves 
a diversion of the ministry from the appointed offices of the 
pulpit, is to fall back upon the old restricted system that the 
pulpit is the exclusive Church instrumentality. The more 
enlarged and enlightened notion of an expansive, comprehen- 
sive system of Church instrumentalities, all combining and 
cooperating with the pulpit as the grand centre of them all, 
necessarily explodes this contracted scheme, since from the 
very relation of the ministry to the management of the func- 
tions of the Church, whatever belongs to her own essential 
operations, are proper objects of their special jurisdiction. 
But even admitting the tenability of the objection, so far as 
it would restrict the energies of the ministry to the one ex- 
clusive end of preaching, this principle, so far from involving 
an objection to the employment of ministers as the educators 
of the country, would vindicate — indeed would impose the 
obligation of such employment. If it be true that God 
converts men primarily that they may be useful, then the 
success of the ministry and the glory they bring to Grod is 
not to be estimated alone by the number of souls they have 
been instrumental in benefitting, but likewise by the charac- 
ter of those benefitted. While it may be true, then, that the 
minister who devotes himself exclusively to the pulpit, may 
cover a field of usefulness wider in its visible range than he 
who restricts himself more particularly to the sphere of edu- 
cational enterprise, yet, when we properly estimate the value, 
to the Church and society, of those comparatively few whom 
he is instrumental in winning to Christ, and the influence 
which, as educated Christian gentlemen, and, as is often the 
case, Christian ministers, they are destined to exert in behalf 
of intelligence and Christianity, it may be that, even on the 



20 PROGRESS. 

ground of positively aggressive influence, the ministerial edu- 
cator is not behind the regular pulpit minister. 

If the number of Christian men and women whom our 
literary establishments, under Methodist auspices, have educa- 
ted, and who, under God, are indebted to those Christian 
ministers who manned them for the spiritual change that 
blessed them, were abstracted from the world, and with them 
the total of the good they may have been instrumental in 
achieving, the vacuum left might not fail to convince the 
most skeptical that, even in respect of positively religious 
influence, these same ministers are not much behind a like 
number of the most zealous and laborious of their brethren, 
whose services are dispensed in fields more active. 

The gains to the ranks of the ministry themselves con- 
stantly accruing, and which are the natural and necessary 
result of this system, especially when conducted immediately 
by ministers, largely more than compensate for any loss to 
the regular work of the ministry by this abstraction as 
teachers. 

It follows, therefore, that so far from this being an unauthor- 
ized vocation of the regular ministry, as claimed by some, it 
is a condition positively essential to the development of edu- 
cation, as a function of the Church — that her ministry them- 
selves be, as far as practicable, its immediate dispensers. 

A second condition necessary to the right development of 
education, as a function of the Church, is the incorporation 
of the Bible and Ecclesiastical History, as a regular and 
prominent part of the entire course of study, in all our lite- 
rary institutions. 

If education is merely regarded in its secular relations as 
designed simply to discipline and furnish the intellect, still 
the Bible, as a book of literature, and in the connexions which 
it has with the progress and history of the world, constitutes 
a sphere of knowledge so comprehensive and important as to 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 21 

render it a necessary part of all extended education. But if 
education is a power of society, which is to be subordinated to 
the uses of Christianity — if the Church is to employ it as one 
of her own functions — then, of course, she ought to avail her- 
self of all means practicable that would contribute to render 
it a religious power. To fail to do this, would be to acknow- 
ledge education as a function of the Church, and yet disa- 
vow, indeed repudiate, the most important agencies by which 
to make it such. It would be to set Christianity to work to 
accomplish a certain object, and yet to deny it the very instru- 
ments necessary to adapt it to it. To make a system of edu- 
cation to consist exclusively of the sciences and literature of 
this world, leaving out that far higher science which connects 
man with all that is important to him in a future state, and 
with all that is most important to him in time, is a strange 
arrangement, under any circumstances, in a Christian land. 
It involves a principle of infidelity and folly which, under 
any view of the proper sources of educational provision, it is 
strange a Christian people will submit to. And when con- 
sidered as having been, and as still being, of almost universal 
practical adoption, is well calculated to awaken feelings of 
guilty alarm. But that education should be recognized as an 
element of Church operations, and be sought to be subordi- 
nated to her own uses, and yet be prosecuted upon this 
worldly infidel plan, and yet be denied an ingredient so neces- 
sary to make it religious — so necessary to give it the strong- 
est religious bias — involves a defectiveness in the entire 
scheme itself, that cannot fail to defeat its most valuable ends. 

There are many important results which would ensue from 
the adoption of the Bible, and the studies properly connected 
with it, as a part of the entire course, in all our institutions 
of learning. 

First. It would obviate that irreligious, infidel tendency, 
necessarily the effect of an exclusive occupancy of the youth- 



P PROGRESS. 

ful mind with secular subjects — an effect greatly enhanced 
when that occupancy of it is under the direction of professed 
Christians, by the practical evidences of a discredit of Chris- 
tianity thus constantly exhibited in the highest examples. 
Second. When properly managed, it would be a powerful 
instrumentality, in constant exercise, to establish in the youth- 
ful mind an abiding conviction of the truth of Christianity, 
and directly to lead, in thousands of instances, to the positive, 
practical embracement of it, in its saving influences. Third. 
By grounding youth in the knowledge of Biblical truth, it 
would facilitate, as to them, the more immediate instrumen- 
talities of the Grospel, and increase, consequently, the proba- 
bilities of their final salvation. It would furnish a preparation 
for a more consistent, enlightened Christian experience, and 
would secure qualifications for usefulness, by increasing the 
capabilities for defending, expounding, and enforcing the 
truth, which, in any future capacity of minister or lay Chris- 
tian, would realize themselves, in much service to the cause 
of Grod. Its effect, in its most limited manifestation, would 
be conservative of order and morality, and, under favorable 
circumstances, would powerfully contribute to secure to the 
entire system of education that religious direction necessary 
to its proper influence, as a specific function of the Church. 

There ought to be, therefore, in all our higher institutions, 
a department of Biblical literature, presided over by men of 
such qualifications as to personal piety, as well as theological 
attainments, as would give to it the highest efiiciency — in 
which not simply those who may be looking forward to the 
ministry, but the whole number in attendance, should be 
regularly instructed, throughout their entire course, in the 
Bible and Church History, as text-books; and, by these, 
together with frequent lectures, be made acquainted with all 
the topics of Christianity which are properly the objects of 
mere intellectual apprehension. And not only in these higher 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 23 

institutions, but also in those primary and preparatory, Bibli- 
cal literature ought all the time to constitute a regular part 
of the system of education, accommodated, in its topics and 
departments, to the age and capacity of the student, and con- 
ducted upon such principles as that, while the mind is con- 
stantly enriched with religious ideas, the heart, as far as may 
be, is at the same time impressed with their conservative, 
sanctifying influences. 

The studied banishment of the Bible, and the branches 
peculiarly associated with it, from the general plan of educa- 
tion in our country, is a singular phenomenon. It has grown 
out of several causes. First. Education heretofore having 
been conducted by the State, or as a secular interest merely, 
the dread of the idea of a connexion of Church and State, or 
of the suspicion of proselytism, has naturally tended to the 
exclusion from the system of education of whatever might be 
considered as embracing the subjects peculiar to Christianity. 
Secondly. The secular idea, which has attached to education 
generally, has put the immediate management of it — in for- 
mer years, perhaps, more than now — largely in the hands of 
men who, negligent themselves of the interests of Christianity, 
felt no concern to provide regular instruction in it in their 
educational methods. Thirdly. Conducted as education 
heretofore has been, as a secular interest merely, in the pro- 
motion of which all classes of men united, the infidel, irreli- 
gious tendencies of men would necessarily be so far consulted, 
as not to force upon them the subjects of Christianity, so far 
as to incorporate them as a regular department of common 
education. It is a necessary sequence, that, when the ele- 
ments of the Church unite with the elements of the world, 
in all interests recognized as exclusively secular, the former 
will always succumb to the latter. 

The difficulty of effecting radical changes in all established 



4* PROGRESS. 

systems, together with an inadequate apprehension of the 
importance of this change among those who have control in the 
premises, has tended to perpetuate this order of things, even 
in that system prosecuted as a function of the Church. But 
it is a cowardly, infidel spirit, unworthy the Church. It must 
be abandoned. It ought to be at once abandoned. If the 
Church intends to make the interests of education a part of 
her own great system, and use them as an agency for her own 
advancement, her plan is without its most important element 
— indeed, the very instrumentality of most potent influence 
is ignored — until the Bible, being erected into a distinct 
department of instruction, is made an integral part of the 
entire educational course, from its beginning to its close. 

A third condition necessary to be fulfilled, for the right 
development of education, as a function of the Church, is an 
enlargement of the means of it, so as to bring it up to a 
standard, both of elevation and comprehensiveness, corre- 
sponding with the demands of the age. 

If the Church undertakes the management of the education 
of the country, of course it is incumbent upon her to do so — 
not merely to an extent sufficient to give countenance to the 
general subject, but to any extent necessary to meet the full 
measure of its demands. She cannot assume the direction of 
this great interest as peculiarly her own, and yet, with narrow 
and restricted views and contracted liberality, leave a large 
sphere of its objects unthought of and unprovided for. To 
do so would be to manifest either criminal neglect, or absolute 
incompetency to discharge the function to which she is com- 
mitted and pledged, and in either case would justify the 
adoption of this interest by any other agency that would more 
suitably provide for it. It is her duty, therefore, to take a 
comprehensive survey of the entire range of the relations 
which this subject sustains to society, and be content, in the 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 25 

arrangement of its plans, with nothing short of snch practical 
development of it as will fully and successfully fulfil all these 
relations. 

A thoughtful appreciation of the relations of education to 
the existing civilization of our country will show that the 
elevation of its standard is imperatively demanded. The pre- 
valence of the popular element in our civil institutions, and 
the importance, therefore, of the general education of the 
masses, has heretofore given a direction to our educational 
energies mainly to the great work of diffusion, and elevation 
has been comparatively lost sight of, as a want of society. 
Accordingly, while, since the commencement of our govern- 
ment, schools have multiplied almost incalculably, and the 
facilities for popular education have been rendered well-nigh 
universal, yet, an inspection of the curriculum of study now 
pursued in all our higher educational establishments, will 
show that, in respect of the number of branches of study, and 
the extent to which they are prosecuted, there has been, in 
all that time, comparatively little progress. But, in the mean 
time, society, under the influence of the active intellectual 
tendencies so wonderfully existing in our country, has been 
carried to a stage of intellectual progress far in advance of its 
earlier growth — so that, if there was, in that early day, any 
suitableness in the standard of education prevailing to the 
wants of the time, that standard has, of course, been far out- 
grown, and can have no completeness of adaptation to the 
demands of the present age. How many branches of study 
are there, which are absolutely necessary to a full preparation 
for the active duties of life, in our advanced stage of civiliza- 
tion, that have as yet found no place in our highest educa- 
tional establishments. How many of those that are embraced 
are necessarily, under our present hurried course, but partially 
and imperfectly pursued. If we understand the educational 
course as designed to furnish a basis for all the various depart - 
3 



26 PROGRESS. 

inents of knowledge in which men are to be engaged, or with 
which they are to be thrown into contact, in future life, then 
the standard of education, however well it may have answered 
in former times, is now far below the wants of our country. 

But an elevation of the standard of education is now an 
imperative demand — not only that thereby all the required 
branches now left out, or but imperfectly pursued, might be 
fully embraced, but likewise for other most important reasons. 

American society, as at present constituted, owing to many 
causes that might be specified, has a predominance of the 
utilitarian element. G-reat in all those capabilities which 
have practical improvement and money for their objects, it 
has but little of that reflective cast of mind which adapts it 
to the origination of new truth, or which adapts it to habits 
of enlarged philosophic thinking. The human mind may be 
regarded, as it exhibits itself in society, as having two func- 
tions : the one, perceptive in its character, adapting it to 
an apprehension of things in their existing aspects and rela- 
tions ; and the other, philosophic in its character, adapting it, 
by its capacity, to apprehend those great principles which 
underlie and govern all subjects, and to reason upon the 
relations these sustain, to judge of the consequences of 
actions — to prophesy of the future. The former gives tact, 
practical capacity, and power of execution : the latter gives 
judgment, wisdom, and safe direction. Now, the former is 
so largely the predominating element of American society, as 
almost completely to hold in abeyance any development of 
the latter; and, from causes connected with the nature of our 
civil institutions, and the wide-spread facilities for utilitarian 
projects our country affords, it is constantly becoming more 
entirely the exclusive element of our civilization. It is seen, 
in the general tendency of society, to be influenced by con- 
siderations of present good and of immediate practical results, 
rather than by a policy which, founded upon a thoughtful 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 27 

appreciation of the true relations of things, estimates all 
questions in the light of their prospective bearings and entire 
consequences — in a tendency which exhibits itself in a spirit 
of haste in all the movements of society, which ignores the 
idea of the future, and sacrifices prospective interests to pre- 
sent gains — in a spirit of impatience, which seeks to accom- 
plish results at once, by arbitrary force, rather than by con- 
formity to the more sure and effective operations of natural 
law; and in a spirit which, in the affairs of government, 
gives itself up, unrestrained by constitutional guards or philo- 
sophic reasonings, to ideas alone of immediate, present 
results — which, in the field of adventure, devotes itself to 
empiricism, filibuster ism, and wild propagandism — which, 
even in the more staid movements of society, incompetent or 
indisposed to a wide survey of the bearings of the objects of 
enterprise, either fails to develop them, or, seeks to do 
so in some empirical way, in which, reckless of those great 
natural laws — a suitable use and disposition of which alone 
can work out fitly any great and permanent results of good to 
men — speediness in realization is the only rule of action. 

The predominance of this utilitarian element is still farther 
seen in the almost entire absence, among our public men, of 
those great, original thinkers who, distinguished for their 
profoundly philosophic grasp and capacity for enlarged and 
comprehensive thinking, give to their intellectual efforts a 
power and universality which spread their thoughts over the 
entire nation, and secure for them a national influence. Of 
these, there are now fewer than in the former days of the 
Republic. For those causes, arising out of the nature of our 
country's institutions and circumstances, to which this pre- 
dominant element is indebted, have been growing in their 
effects ) and hence, in the earlier stages of American society, 
during the formative periods of our great men, its condition 
was better suited than now for the production of the higher 



28 PROGRESS. 

philosophic order of mind. It is likewise seen in the absence 
of those profound thinkers in any of the departments of 
science or literature, who stand out as the great lights of the 
world, and to which other civilizations have been indebted 
for their highest achievements — in the dependence of our 
country upon foreign importations for that influx of new and 
great ideas which give direction and tone to the profound 
movements of society — in the almost entire absence of a litera- 
ture, profound and philosophical, and the universal currency 
of a literature, light, superficial, and evanescent. These are 
indices of a nation shallow and superficial in its thinking, and 
which, without power of deep, comprehensive reflection, gives 
itself only to ideas of the present. 

American society needs a fuller development of the philo- 
sophic element. It would not be difficult to show that the 
maintenance of our civil institutions unimpaired, the right 
employment of the functions of the Church, and the progress 
of every vital interest of society, so far depend upon it, as to 
make it absolutely indispensable. But, replete as society 
now is with forces that antagonize this element, the only 
hope of the country, to secure it, is in a deeper and more 
protracted mental training during the educational process. 
If here, during the mind's formative season, such a course 
could be adopted as would bring out the strong powers of the 
mind, and subject them to such habits of rigid discipline as 
would develop the faculties of ratiocination and furnish 
them with their suitable materials ; and if this course could 
be so protracted as to fix and make permanent these results 
as actual parts of the intellectual constitution, then society 
would gradually secure an accession of mind of more vigor- 
ous, thoughtful cast, and American civilization would take on 
the elements of judgment, wisdom, and philosophy, now her 
profoundest want. But to do this, an elevation of the stand- 
ard of education is indispensable. In its present limits, 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 29 

experience has demonstrated its inadequacy to the task. But 
any just appreciation of the relations of the educational sys- 
tem to the mind's culture, together with the experience of its 
results, even in its present barren, inadequate provision, will 
convincingly demonstrate that there might he an expansion 
and elevation of it cO such degree as would secure these 
high results — as would render education itself the capable 
agency of providing for American society the grand element 
needed. 

An elevation of the standard of education would greatly 
increase the number of the literary and scientific class, or, in 
more general terms, of those who devote themselves to purely 
intellectual pursuits. The present standard of education, in 
reference to such pursuits, has but little more than a negative 
action, tending simply to remove such obstructions to them as 
may enable men of extraordinary genius, or in circumstances 
peculiarly favorable, to engage in them ; but a higher stand- 
ard, in which the mind is longer held to a system of train- 
ing, and is furnished on an ampler scale with the stores of 
highest learning, would give to the educational system a 
power of positive impulse to intellectual pursuits — would give 
to it the capability of establishing such habits and tastes as 
that, as the effect of its operation, a much larger number 
would devote themselves to more purely intellectual vocations, 
and all would share in a higher degree an elevated intellec- 
tual tendency. These results themselves would greatly tend 
to counteract the excessive utilitarian tendencies of American 
society, and to give to our civilization its needed element of 
profound and comprehensive intellectual power : it would 
bring out, in just proportions and prominence, that class of 
intelligence which gives character and distinction to a nation, 
and which, more than all others, contribute to that general 
intellectual elevation which is the surest mark of high national 
progress. 



30 PROGRESS. 

But an elevation of the standard of education in our coun* 
try is demanded, in view of important moral results. 

The present system often works disastrously in two ways. 
Incompetent in a great variety of cases, because of its limit- 
edness to establish a permanent discipline or to furnish the 
mind with those ample and enlarged intellectual stores which 
secure an adaptation at once for the active career of life, and 
yet embracing so much of the time and attention of youth as 
to be incompatible with the acquisition of practical business 
knowledge and habits, it throws its subjects out into the 
active world without qualifications adapting them to their cir- 
cumstances, and with no immediate resources suited to exist- 
ing demands. Precluding the opportunities for that ordinary 
training which association and contact with the practical 
operations of life furnishes, it yet comes short of fulfilling the 
conditions of training and furniture necessary to adapt to the 
higher walks of life, and in this unprepared state its subjects 
are ushered upon the theatre of active life. In this condition, 
requiring, of right, a still further probation and discipline, 
what wonder that many, disappointed and deceived, give 
themselves up to idleness, and, inefficient and inactive, be- 
come mere drones in society — what wonder that many betake 
themselves to dissipation and vice, and, ruined themselves, 
become corrupters of society ! 

Again : the limitedness of the present educational system 
makes it practicable, with any thing like uninterrupted pur- 
suance of it, to complete it some time before the period of 
proper manhood — before, at least, the period of legal man- 
hood is reached, and consequently, in reference to the largest 
portion of our graduates, there is an interval of time, of 
greater or less extent, between the period of the actual comple- 
tion of their course, and that in which, by age, they are quali- 
fied for the duties of active life. What wonder that in that 
period of freedom from restraint, and of leisure, when, with- 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 31 

out the habits of mind established by a sufficiently protracted 
system of discipline and the conservative influences of exten- 
sive stores of mental acquisition — when, indeed, their own 
characters are without full and complete formation — they 
should so betake themselves to wild, random life as to lose 
the benefits of former advantages — as to lose all taste for 
laborious, self-denying pursuits — or, indeed, worse than all, 
to become positively corrupt and vicious ! 

Consequences like these, of not unfrequent occurrence, 
have made collegiate education unpopular with a large class 
of society, and have contributed as much as any other cause 
to the hinderance of the educational interests of the country. 
It is not education itself which gives rise to these deplorable 
results. It is rather the want of it. It is the limitedness of 
its scale as at present developed. And, as well that these 
results might be forestalled — as well that the educational sys- 
tem might be invested with ample power, really and fully to 
fit its subjects for the actual duties of life, which is, indeed, 
its true conception, and not, by coming short of it, more than 
defeat its own ends — as that the occasions for reproach and 
opposition might be precluded, the standard of education in 
our country ought to be elevated. 

Under the present system, closing as it does with almost 
all, before the developing, maturing process is ended, a large 
portion of the formative period of life, and that, too, the most 
susceptible of benefit from educational advantages, is unap- 
propriated. That this period may be subjected to the edu- 
cational process, and every advantage be afforded that process 
for the accomplishment of its complete results, an elevation 
of the standard of education is imperatively demanded. 

To accomplish this elevation, several methods are practica- 
ble. Either the standard of qualification for admission into 
the lowest class might be so raised as to admit of a much 
more enlarged and comprehensive system of study during the 



32 PROGRESS. 

four years' course; or an additional year or two might be 
added, as supplementary to, or an extension of, the present 
course ; or a new class of educational establishments might 
be founded — beginning their course where that of our 
existing colleges terminates — in which that enlarged and com- 
prehensive course of study is embraced proper to the true 
idea of a University, and supplying in the wide sphere of its 
operations, facilities for qualification for every department of 
life. 

The system of education established by the Church will be 
below the standard of comprehensiveness demanded by the 
relations of this agency to society until she specifically pro- 
vides for the encouragement and maintenance of a class of 
men specially devoted to the cause of learning. 

It is important, in all periods, that there be an order of 
men who are distinguished for profound and critical scholar- 
ship, that, by their own example, the learning they display, 
and the actual improvements they effect in literature and sci- 
ence, they may give requisite impulse and facilities to the 
educational cause. But there is now a demand for men of 
deepest learning in the precincts of the Church which never 
existed in any former period. Infidelity, heretofore, has con- 
cerned itself mainly with those aspects of truth which, more 
plain and obvious, were cognizable by the common under- 
standing, and susceptible of defense without the acquirements 
of critical learning. But, baffled in respect of these, in 
modern times it is seeking to accomplish the same nefarious 
purposes, by taking advantage of the Christian world to turn 
the resources of learned criticism and scholarship against the 
truth of God. In the open field of controversy, in which the 
fundamental principles of truth are involved, we may not 
expect infidelity again to enter. These principles it has once 
subjected to the crucible, and, coming forth unharmed and the 
brighter, it will be cautious of further exhibition of its weak- 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 33 

ness and folly in the same field. Its prevailing spirit now is, 
and perhaps will continue to be, a critical spirit; and it is in the 
field of learning and scholarship that its hardest battle is now 
to be fought. In Germany, as the great centre of operations, 
in G-reat Britain, and even in the United States, its hosts are 
marshalled, and nothing but a successful counter-movement 
by the friends of the truth will prevent results which every 
Christian must deplore. We need then, in the Church of 
Grod, a class of men thoroughly accomplished in the highest 
departments of learning and criticism — who are prepared 
successfully to resist the infidel on his own ground of war- 
fare, and, as the friends of the Bible did, in reference to ge- 
ology, turn their own weapons to the work of their own over- 
throw, and to the establishment of the cause of truth. And 
Methodism, undertaking as she does to fulfil the conditions 
of a true Church, in meeting all the various wants of the 
times, cannot be indifferent to a provision so important to her 
own progress — so necessary to the highest and most rapid 
triumphs of the cause of Grod. 

But to secure this class of men — devoted to discoveries 
in science — to historical, philological, and ethnological re- 
searches — to the extension of the field of general literature — 
to Biblical criticism and interpretation — and to the prepara- 
tion of books, and especially of suitable text books, in all 
these departments thus necessary to the educational and reli- 
gious interests of the country, and the general progress of 
society — there ought to be foundations, of the nature of the 
fellowships in the English Universities, connected with our 
higher educational establishments, by which men, whose 
qualifications and tastes eminently fit them for these pursuits, 
might be supported, and thus, relieved from worldly care and 
solicitude, allowed to devote themselves, without let or hin- 
derance, to these high public interests. As long as no provi- 
sion of this kind is made, and literary men of every class are 
3* 



34 PROGRESS. 

encumbered with the drudgery and care of providing the ways 
and means of pecuniary support, there will not only he a 
much less number of purely literary men, but there will neces- 
sarily be, in the progress of literary life, such obstructions as 
must prevent the highest success. Whoever understands the 
laws of the mind, knows that it is capable of achieving its 
highest results, of conducting its processes most successfully — 
especially when they embrace an extensive sphere of investi- 
gation, and are protracted — only when it is allowed to act 
uninteruptedly free from diversion and distraction; and con- 
sequently, he who is so dependent upon the busines world 
as that a division of his time and attention is necessary, to 
provide for it, is less qualified, not only by the loss of time, 
but in virtue of the laws of his own intellectual constitution, 
for the most successful prosecution of purely literary pursuits. 

But this provision for suitable support, thus made, by suit- 
able endowments, would meet this necessary law, and, disen- 
cumbering these lofty minds of the country, would set them 
free to devote their time without loss, and their intellects 
without distraction, to those great objects, so well worthy of 
public concern and of public maintenance. 

This arrangement, by the access it would give to extensive 
public libraries, which the full expansion of the educational 
function contemplates, and the facilities afforded for combina- 
tions and mutual help among the literary class, and the 
attainment of those valuable ends which result from their 
mutual intercourse, would give to this class advantages for its 
growth and success that, under no other system, could be 
supplied, and without which, it never can attain, in Ameri- 
can civilization, its rightful position and influence. 

The bounty and privilege thus conferred upon this class, by 
the special direction and appointment of those having autho- 
rity in the premises, would not fail to establish a claim of the 
public upon them, which, while it would powerfully contribute 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 35 

to stimulate and sustain their noblest endeavors, would like- 
wise tend to give thern that direction most demanded by the 
public interests. In this case, these literary minds would not 
be left, as now, to the exclusive guidance of individual expe- 
diency and selfish interest, in which course their force is often 
spent in unprofitable fields and in hurtful operations, but, sus- 
taining the recognized relation of public servants, would lend 
themselves, under every incentive, to application to the enter- 
prises only of public benefit. And if this scheme of public 
endowment for the maintenance of this class, be the work of 
the Church in the development of her educational function — 
which of right it should be, and to which we invite the 
Church as an important duty — then this subjection of this 
class would be, not to the public generally, but to the Church 
as such, in which case the effect would be, not merely to pre- 
clude the powerful influence of this class against the interests 
of Christianity, but to render it available as one of the effective 
forces of the Church in the spread of light and the mainte- 
nance of truth and knowledge throughout the world. The 
Church should avail herself of an instrumentality so potent 
to do her harm if unappropriated, and so influential in her 
operations if thus employed; and her educational function 
properly developed, must necessarily embrace a method so 
practical and easy for its successful accomplishment. 

In an educational system sufficiently broad to meet the 
entire wants of society, and which the Church, if she com- 
mits herself to the management of it, must not stop short of 
a suitable provision for that professional education suscep- 
tible of impartation in the schools, must be embraced. The 
efficiency and success of all those departments of human life, 
known as the learned professions, and all those interests of 
general convenience and social well-being and progress which 
grow out of them, are largely dependent upon the extent 
and thoroughness with which those who pursue them are in 



36 PROGRESS. 

the outset trained in those fundamental principles appro* 
priate to them. Hence, in all advanced civilizations, pro- 
fessional education has been regarded as belonging to the 
general system of educational provision, and schools are main- 
tained with direct reference to its suitable prosecution. As 
well, therefore, because of the important position it occupies 
in the great educational scheme, as because of its suscep- 
tibility, like every other department of education, of being 
appropriated as an active power in the precincts of the 
Church, it is incumbent upon the Church, as a further 
development of her educational function, at once to incor- 
porate, as far as practicable, in connection with her other 
educational interests, a suitable provision for an ample pro- 
fessional education. As all great enterprises are necessarily 
gradual in their largest development, this great feature has, 
up to this period, been left out of the educational movement, 
as a function of the Church. But important as this class of 
education has always been, it is now more than ever so, and 
will be increasingly so as society grows older; and the 
Church, therefore, if true to the country and to herself, can 
no longer postpone this broader extension of her educational 
enterprise. 

It constitutes a weighty argument in favor of the plan of 
establishing those higher institutions to which our colleges 
would be preparatory, suggested, as a suitable method to' pro- 
vide for an elevation of the standard of education, that they 
might be conveniently used as the establishments in which 
to incorporate the facilities for the prosecution of professional 
education; and likewise a consideration showing the prac- 
ticability of the scheme proposed, of a provision for a distinct 
literary class, that these might be connected with these grand 
universities, and made an integral part of a grand corps 
of instructors, as well in this professional department as 
in all the other departments, embracing, in the whole, in 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 37 

amplest range and fulness, the entire sphere of human 
knowledge. 

What splendid sources of light these grand universities, 
thus constituted and directed, would become in the midst of 
American civilization ! Here the educational function would 
find its highest expression and exert its mightiest force. 
Standing out as the great agencies of the highest and com- 
pletest style of education, combining the amplest facilities for 
the importation of every class of knowledge — the Mecea of 
the student, the home of the learned and the wise — they 
would infuse a spirit of intellectual improvement — they would 
give power and elevation to educational agencies wherever 
existing — they would bring forth, in available forms, those 
fruits of highest learning and intellect, that would indeed 
constitute them the most potent instrumentality of develop- 
ment and progress known to American civilization. 

A fourth condition required to be fulfilled, to secure a full 
development of education, as a function of the Church, is 
the ample endowment of our higher educational establish- 
ments, particularly those devoted to the education of males. 

As necessary to a provision of educational facilities, on the 
amplest scale, extended arrangements in respect of fixtures, 
libraries, apparatus, and museums, are absolutely indispensa- 
ble. Without these, education, so denominated, may be fur- 
nished ; but it will not be education of those enlarged and 
ample dimensions adapted to the wants of a great nation, 
and commensurate with the obligations of a great Church. 

The Boards of Instruction ought to be so full as to allow 
each officer ample time for his own improvement and the 
perfection of the facilities of his department. Until this 
result is achieved, our institutions of learning will but rarely 
enjoy the services of men competent to infuse in them the 
highest capabilities, or to impart to the educational cause its 
noblest lustre. 
1 



38 PROGRESS. 

But as long as these institutions are sustained only or 
mainly by the pecuniary avails of mere tuition fees, neces- 
sarily this important result will be unattained. No insti- 
tution in this country can retain this number of officers which 
is not pecuniarily supported, for the most part at least, by an 
ample permanent endowment. No collegiate institution 
ought to expect to retain the services of a competent faculty, 
under any circumstances, whose dependence for income is 
upon patronage alone. Methodist colleges in the past are, 
in some sense, exceptions to this general statement. For, 
manned mainly by Methodist preachers, who have been accus- 
tomed to hard work and low wages, it has been thus far 
practicable to secure their services in the colleges on a like 
plan of small remuneration. But even Methodist institu- 
tions, with this- peculiar advantage, have themselves greatly 
suffered by the lack of adequate pecuniary support. 

Again : Education, as a function of the Church, has neces- 
sarily connected with it a benevolent feature. It is not 
enough to fulfill its conditions, even in respect of the more 
advanced stages of it, that it provides for those who are able 
to pay for it ; but it must have an active function, whose 
property it is to seek out the indigent of merit, and, by the 
inducements it offers, to bring them within the sphere of its 
highest operations. The high results of good of which the 
educational scheme is capable, in respect both of the country 
and the cause of God, in this particular application and use of 
it, demonstrate that, sustaining the relation of a regular 
Church function, it would involve a recreancy to its own 
legitimate aims, if not given a direction suitable for their 
accomplishment. The many bright lights to be found every- 
where in our country, contributing to its splendor and im- 
provement, and to the usefulness of the Church, who are 
indebted to the benevolent feature of some of our highest 
institutions for the educational facilities that made them, 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 89 

attest the glorious efficiency of tills instrumentality, and vin- 
dicate the propriety and obligation of the largest provision 
for its fullest exercise. But though enough has been done 
in this benevolent field, especially by Methodist colleges, to 
vindicate its practicability and importance, yet the occupancy 
of it has been by no means commensurate with its extent in 
this country. And there is no duty now more pressing upon 
the Church than this extension of the educational function. 
It is in this particular field, especially, that the Church may 
make her educational interests tributary to her own advance- 
ment, since its necessary effect is to secure a constantly in- 
creasing class devoted to her interests, and of highest effi- 
ciency in the promotion of her influence. This beneficiary 
class, feeling their dependence upon, and appreciating their 
obligations to, these institutions, exercise, while they are 
students, a most conservative influence upon the inmates of 
these institutions ; and by cooperating, in their influence with 
the authorities, always greatly contribute to harmony, order, 
and good government. On this account, the cause of educa- 
tion itself is greatly promoted by the incorporation of this 
benevolent feature. But to provide for it on a scale cor- 
respondent with existing wants and obligations, an extended 
endowment is, of course, indispensable. No institution, 
without such endowment, however well disposed its imme- 
diate managers, is in circumstances to afford these benevolent 
facilities to any thing like the desired extent. The Metho- 
dist colleges of this country, though established and main- 
tained by the richest Christian denomination of the Union, 
are, with fewest exceptions, almost entirely without endow- 
ment ; and consequently whatever may be said of them as 
an earnest of future enterprise and achievement, yet now, 
in respect of many of the most important functions they 
ought to fulfill, they are necessarily largely hindered in their 
efficiency. 



40 PROGRESS. 

It is a gratifying indication of the growth of more enlight- 
ened public sentiment, that in respect of many of the higher 
educational establishments, efforts are being made to enlarge 
their capabilities, by an increase of their pecuniary resources. 
Shall Methodism, assuming, as she does, the management of 
the educational interests of her people, withhold the means, 
enjoying them, as she does, in such rich abundance, to place 
her own institutions of learning in the highest rank of use- 
fulness ? Endowment is now the great want of Methodist 
colleges. Patronage they have, and, if not inconsiderately 
multiplied, patronage they will continue to receive in in- 
creasing amount. It is the means of enlargement, of increase 
of facilities, of expanding the benevolent feature, they need; 
and prompt and liberal action for their provision is now a 
pressing demand upon Methodism, for the right unfolding of 
her educational function. 

The relation sustained by our academy system to the cause 
of education, has an importance not usually ascribed to it. 
Occupying the intermediate place in the great educational 
system, it is not only the source of supply to our highest 
educational establishments, but sustaining to them a prepara- 
tory relation, and furnishing thereby the basis upon which 
the college curriculum rests, the whole character of collegiate 
education, the efficiency and success of the college itself, are 
in great degree dependent upon it. Indeed, the educational 
institutions of the country, as constituted of the common school, 
the high school, and the college, can be properly appreciated 
only when considered as parts of one great system, and so inti- 
mately related to each other, that the success of each is largely 
dependent upon the efficiency and prosperity of the rest. And 
this connection, thus subsisting between the high schools and 
those still higher, to which they are preparatory, was, perhaps, 
never more sensibly felt than at present. The greatest 
hinderance now experienced by our colleges to that critical- 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 41 

ness and thoroughness of education which it is their office to 
dispense, and which the country claims from them, is the 
lack of that previous preparation, which it is the design of 
these schools to afford. And in respect of the great interests 
of public education, the most serious concern of the present 
moment is the better appointment of the academy, so as to 
secure greater thoroughness — ■& more perfect drilling in the 
elementary departments in all those fundamental branches of 
study which underlie the college course, and which constitute 
an indispensable qualification to the successful prosecution of 
all elevated liberal education. 

But the importance of the academy is seen not merely in 
this relation to other educational establishments. From the 
absence of disposition, of capacity, or of means to continue 
the course of education in the highest institutions, as respects 
a large class of the rising generation, these schools furnish 
the highest educational advantages enjoyed. In them many 
complete their educational course, and from them go forth 
without further educational opportunities, to take their places 
upon the theatre of active life. In an important sense, there- 
fore, they control the standard of education throughout the 
country, and the character, as well as the extent, of the edu- 
cational benefits diffused are largely dependent upon them. 

As important then as are our colleges in the work of 
elevating, perfecting, and illustrating the standard of liberal 
education, in the great work of providing educational facili- 
ties adequate to the demands of the age and commensurate 
with the requirements of the existing civilization, these sub- 
ordinate schools are none the less valuable, are none the less 
indispensable, in any scheme of educational provision for the 
people. 

The Church, therefore, to develop her educational function 
fully, must provide for the people the academy no less than 
the college. She must seize upon all openings presented, to 



42 PROGRESS. 

establish these institutions, and to bring those already exist- 
ing, whenever the contract can be judiciously made, under 
her own immediate management. She must do more than 
this. She must see that these institutions are properly offi- 
cered, both as to religious and literary qualifications, so that 
she can feel and give the assurance to the country, that while 
their influence is an effective force in behalf of the Church, 
their course of instruction is sufficiently thorough and critical 
to constitute them efficient and suitable preparatory establish- 
ments to the higher institutions under her management. 

The Church has already adopted this policy, but not so 
extensively as that the academies under her auspices are suf- 
ficient to answer the demands of the Church, which ought to 
be their limit. In every community where she can sustain 
an academy, she ought to establish one, under her own direct 
control. An occasional institution of this kind, established at 
distant points, may be sufficient to indicate a bare appreciation 
of the Church of educational interests, but not to supply her 
people with the educational facilities she should undertake to 
do. Nor does this policy, heretofore pursued, sufficiently 
identify the Church with the management of these academies. 
A mere formal recognition of these institutions by Church 
authorities, as under her auspices, is a step just sufficiently far 
to hold her responsible before the world for their manage- 
ment; but not far enough to secure to herself the actual 
power of controlling them. She ought to go further, and by 
an immediate appropriation of them, assume the control of 
their literary and religious character. Thus multiplied, 
and thus directly managed by the agencies of the Church, her 
educational function in reference to them would be rightly 
developed, so that while they subserved the valuable purpose 
in the education of the country appropriate to them, they 
would at the same time be duly subservient as an available 
force in the furtherance of the Christian cause. 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 43 

The enterprises of education, as conducted by Methodism, 
and the churches generally, have been restricted thus far, 
with that exception of the benevolent feature incident to its 
higher establishments, mainly to those able to pay for their 
educational privileges : they have terminated for the most 
part in a mere provision of the necessary facilities, and in 
placing those facilities in a simply passive relation, to be 
enjoyed only by those who actively seek them, and conse- 
quently only by those who comply with the condition of 
pecuniary remuneration for them. That large class, there- 
fore, who, under the disabilities of ignorance, are without 
disposition to become the active, spontaneous seekers of edu- 
cation, or who, under the disabilities of poverty, are unable 
to comply with the pecuniary condition, have been left out 
of the scheme of educational provision, as a function of the 
Church, as thus far unfolded. Perhaps, in the nature of the 
case, this, thus far, has been unavoidable. A scheme of so 
wide comprehension, and embracing so many conditions neces- 
sarily must be gradual in its developments, and it was con- 
forming to true philosophy to have begun in the order of 
establishment with the higher grades of educational provision. 
These the more immediate and pressing wants of the country 
and of the Church in the outset most naturally suggested, 
and were needed first to give practicability to further expansion 
to these all-embracing interests. Education, to become uni- 
versal, must first exhibit itself in its highest forms. As a 
system, it works its way into and permeates the mass rather 
by the law of descent than of ascent, and it is by the most 
effective support of the colleges and high schools that the 
means and methods are to be made practicable for its widest 
application. 

But the scheme of education, as managed by the Church, 
having so far unfolded itself as to have provided, in no very 



44 PROGRESS. 

limited degree, these higher establishments, the period has 
arrived when, in the order of things, it is practically capable 
of such further extension as is necessary to the full exhibition 
of the benevolent feature, and when the Church should begin 
to direct herself to this as a specific object of the educational 
function. 

That the Church should give to her educational agencies 
an aggressive capability, having for its object in the most effi- 
cient methods practicable, the diffusion of some measure of 
education throughout the entire masses of society, is evident 
from all the considerations whieh show education to be a 
function of the Church. It is not enough — as important as 
is that specific direction of her enterprise — that she should 
stop with the largest provision of those educational facilities 
which sustain a merely passive relation to society — as, for 
example, her Colleges and High Schools — but for the same 
and even additional reasons, she must go further and invest 
her educational agencies with such aggressive capabilities as 
that, by intention, they constantly and positively tend to their 
own universal application. 

But while it is generally admitted that it is due to society 
that education should thus be universally dispensed, the popu- 
lar idea is, that its provision is a function of the State rather 
than of the Church. And this idea, developing itself as it 
has already in some of the States in the actual adoption of 
plans of common school education, and generally entertained 
as the only conception which the subject allows, has effectu- 
ally diverted the Church from this, her own appropriate field, 
and, for the present at least, in a great degree barred it from 
her own proper occupancy. Indeed, so prevailing has been 
this idea — so overwhelming its influence upon the general 
mind — that even the most of those the steadiest in their con- 
viction of the propriety of making education, in its most 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 45 

advanced departments, the function of the Church, yet con- 
cede that these provisions of it for the masses are properly 
the business of the State. 

Now, it must be admitted, that since our government repu- 
diates all connection of Church and State, it is impossible to 
give to common school education by the State such a posi- 
tively religious character and direction as are necessary to 
make it a positively religious agency, and yet that this depart- 
ment of the educational function is susceptible, perhaps above 
all other, if properly employed by the Church, of being made 
tributary to the advancement of the religious interests of socie- 
ty. All the considerations, therefore, which go to establish 
the educational agency to be a function of the Church, press 
with peculiar weight against the surrender of this particular 
department of it to the State. Hence, it is incumbent upon 
the Church that she should not thus be blind to her own 
responsibilities, and allow an agency to pass into other hands 
and perhaps become an antagonism to her own interests 
which, under a freer and fuller development of her own sys- 
tem, she might make in a powerful degree conducive to her 
own advancement. 

While it is no more than might have been expected of 
those who regard education in the mere light of a secular 
interest, that they should conceive the State to be the grand 
agency of its application to all classes, and especially to the 
poor and humble, yet it is equally to be expected that those 
who regard it as susceptible of becoming a religious instru- 
mentality, so far from seeking to place it, in any of its depart- 
ments, under the control of an agency exclusively secular, 
would rather repudiate such connection and direct their ener- 
gies to such plans as would result in giving the Church the 
control of it in every department of its interests. 

There might be some apology for the friends of Christianity 
in this surrender of an important agency, if it were to be but 



46 PROGRESS. 

a temporary surrender — to be submitted to for the present, 
in view of a pressing existing want which the slower opera- 
tions of the voluntary principle were inadequate immediately 
to supply, or in view of its tendency to hasten on such pro- 
gress of the Church as is necessary to her proper assumption 
of this ; her own function. But, unfortunately, these advo- 
cates of State agency do not thus regard it as a mere tran- 
sient expedient, but are for the most part committed to it as 
the true and only policy, in all time, for the general diffusion 
of education, and when once practically adopted, it necessa- 
rily becomes so far a monopoly as effectually to close up this 
field to all future movements of the Church. 

The truth is, the Church has never yet generally awakened 
to a proper conception of her relation to education as one of 
her own proper functions. The wide secular bearing which 
it has, and the consequent strong interest which secular men 
have manifested in it, have too much overborne the Church, 
and forestalled the proper appreciation of the religious ele- 
ment and relationships it of right should enjoy. And this 
tendency in reference to common school education has been 
greatly strengthened by contracted notions of the capabilities 
of any other agency as compared with the State — by the ex- 
ample of other governments whose wont is to assume in their 
own right what properly belongs to the people — and of some 
of our own States, in which, however, the results of the plan 
as compared with what might have been achieved on the vo- 
luntary plan of the Church, in the light either of religion or 
of philosophy, afford no encouragement to its application in 
other communities. What the Church now greatly needs is 
a more thorough and enlightened apprehension of the true 
relation she sustains to the entire sphere of educational agency. 
Could this be realized she never would be content with this 
surrender of it in any particular to the State, but, with a just 
and comprehensive appreciation of her own responsibilities. 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 47 

her effort would rather be to embrace it as her own, and using 
it as her own, to give its capabilities their highest force and 
their every possible application. 

But waiving this objection, and putting the question of 
State agency in behalf of common school education on the 
ground only of its efficiency as compared with other agencies 
of a spontaneous or voluntary character, and still it will be 
condemned as an inferior and objectionable method. 

Experience has been generally uniform in its testimony 
that those enterprises wherein government has undertaken 
the immediate management of the interests of the people — 
such as banks, public institutions, works of internal improve- 
ment — have been feeble and inefficient, compared with those 
similar of a private character. And in what respects could 
a system of public education, conducted by the State, more 
complex and comprehensive, have advantages for more favor- 
able comparison ? 

Common school education, conducted by State agency, de- 
pendent as it is upon State legislatures, necessarily, under our 
form of government, becomes complicated with the politics 
of the country, and the hinderances thus experienced, to- 
gether with the unwieldly, cumbrous character of its ma- 
chinery, must necessarily make its movements laggard, vacil- 
lating, and uncertain. As a private enterprise, without this 
necessity for delay, and unhindered by collateral issues and 
dependencies, it would enjoy concentrated, undivided atten- 
tion ; and those who prompted to it by their own appreciation 
of it and zeal would be most likely to give it the liveliest 
impulse and the most active progress. The machinery of the 
State adapted to a variety of aims must be inefficient as re- 
spects any one of them, as compared with an organism origi- 
nated and sustained for its exclusive prosecution. The spirit 
and energies of a people, in reference to any great object in 
which they are interested, must be hampered and restricted 



4b PROGRESS. 

when compelled to act only through the slow processes of the 
State when compared with the freedom of their own sponta- 
neous, undisturbed operation. 

The legislatures, composed as they are of men whose ap- 
pointments have been conferred with reference mainly to 
political considerations, would hardly be so likely to embrace 
those best qualified to attend to this great interest, as would 
those spontaneous movements of society in its behalf, in which 
the most competent naturally rise to the surface as their 
marked and prominent leaders, At any rate, they would be 
composed, to an extent greater or less, of those without quali- 
fications to govern this interest, and of those without zeal in 
its behalf- and a body thus constituted necessarily would be 
far less qualified to give wise and efficient direction to this 
interest than would be those who, as a spontaneous social 
movement, would be recognised as entitled to precedency and 
control. So many issues are involved in the canvass for le- 
gislative membership, that usually but few are returned com- 
petent to direct an interest so comprehensive and intricate, 
and those few are hampered and restrained by others stupid 
and incompetent. But as a social movement alone, in which 
natural laws are allowed unobstructedly to work out their re- 
sults, the natural tendency will be to turn up in the front 
rank those, and those only, the best qualified to push it for- 
ward, and every practicable force will be brought into action 
for its most successful progress. 

In a comparison, therefore, of the relative efficiency of the 
principle of State agency and the principle of spontaneous 
agency in behalf of common school education, the superiority 
is evidently in favor of" the latter. 

But we take still higher ground. We maintain that the 
provision of education for the people is in no wise the busi- 
ness of the government, and that in so far as it assumes such 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 49 

provision, it transcends its true design and legitimate sphere 
of action. 

Government must necessarily have its limits, else it be- 
comes a power of unlimited use, and consequently of abuse. 
The true republican idea is, that government exists for pro- 
tection — the protection of each individual against all others, 
and of community generally against the encroachments of 
foreign power. The sphere of republican government, there- 
fore, is essentially negative, with only so much of the positive 
element as may be actually necessary to maintain it in this 
character. Republicanism adheres to this idea, because it 
alone is compatible with the largest civil liberty, and because 
it is the only distinct and practicable limit. If a step fur- 
ther is advanced, and government is invested with positive 
functions, necessarily the principle of mere expediency is 
introduced, and the guarantees of liberty are virtually lost. 
The idea, therefore, that government has so universal a re- 
lation to all the positive interests of society as to make their 
management a part of its own legitimate operations, belongs 
to monarchical and despotic, but not to republican, govern- 
ments. Under these latter, the State, so far from being all- 
comprehending and absorbing, has its own distinct sphere, 
and that sphere is limited to the object of the mere protec- 
tion of the people, leaving them unrestricted and untram- 
melled by any interference of its own, to work out their own 
fortunes. 

However desirable then may be the universal diffusion of 
education, yet since a provision of it by the government 
necessarily involves the principle that government is not con- 
fined in its action to the great objects of protection, leaving 
the people free to develop and manage their own affairs, but 
that it may positively interfere in, and of its own right as- 
sume the management of the absolute interests of the people 
themselves, it is an assumption of prerogative, not only for- 
3 



50 PROGRESS. 

eign to its own legitimate authority, but in direct contraven- 
tion of its genius and spirit. 

The true character of our government has been in the 
main well understood and conformed to in the legislation of 
the country; and while in the monarchical governments of 
the old continents the people have been hindered and op- 
pressed by this interference of government in the manage- 
ment of affairs legitimately their own, our policy has been, 
in reference to these matters, to leave the people free, assum- 
ing that in their own hands, unrestrained and untrammelled, 
the conditions of their existence and prosperity would be 
more properly fulfilled. In America it has been the absence 
of governmental interference, and the freedom of the people 
in the origination of plans of enterprise and improvement, 
that has given them their present lofty elevation as a race, 
and to the country its unexampled prosperity. Why, then, 
since the genius of the government repudiates this connection 
with the education of the country, and its past experience 
vindicates the general policy of holding the government aloof 
from all these internal affairs of the people, should this con- 
nection so complex and comprehensive be insisted upon ? 
The truth is, it is an element of the European systems which 
is sought to be incorporated into our free institutions, and 
has no congeniality with the spirit and policy to which 
we are indebted for our present high national and social 
position. 

This principle, which authorizes government to provide for 
the education of the people, founded as it is upon the general 
principle of its right to legislate in behalf of the positive in- 
terests of the people personally, revolutionizes the whole 
character of our government. It at once opens up to govern- 
ment, as a proper object of legislation, every variety of in- 
terest in which the people individually have concern, and 
introduces the dangerous principle that its own discretion is 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 51 

the limit of the sphere of its legislative functions. If educa- 
tion is to be provided for by the State, because education 
generally diffused will promote the stability of the govern- 
ment and the progress of society, why may not religion be 
connected with the State, aud its diffusion and maintenance 
be provided for by legislative enactment? Why may not 
agrarian laws be enacted, and any and all laws which a 
majority may conceive will be promotive of the happiness of 
the people ? Indeed, there can be no avoiding the admission 
that the very same premises which are employed to establish 
the right and propriety of common school education by the 
State, are susceptible of being employed with no less logical 
certainty to establish the right and propriety of a connection 
of the State and the Church, and the. legislation by the 
former for the maintenance and extension of the latter. 

But it may be contended that the ground upon which the 
right of legislation by the State for the maintenance and dif- 
fusion of education is claimed, is not its mere tendency to 
promote the happiness of the people, as such, but its tendency, 
by its enlightening, elevating influence upon the people to 
promote their capacity for self-government, and, consequently, 
the stability and wise administration of the government itself. 
But is education the only interest that has such relation to 
the government ? Is not Christianity an agency even more 
powerful in its conservative, happy influences upon the 
government ? What more tends to promote the capacity for 
self-government, the love of order, the spirit of patriotism, 
and the wise conduct of public affairs, than the general pre. 
valence of enlightened Christian principle ? And what more 
tends to the stability of the government than the general con- 
tentment and prosperity of the people ? The favorable influ- 
ence, then, of any particular interest of society upon the 
government, as the ground of right for legislative interference 
for its promotion, will be found not to restrict government to 



52 PROGRESS. 

the one interference of providing for the education of the 
people, but to be a principle of sufficient comprehensiveness 
to embrace every interest with which the prosperity of society 
is connected. To what a latitudinarian policy, then, is the 
government committed by the adoption of the principle in 
question ? In the maintenance of it, all restriction upon the 
government is virtually set aside, and it becomes, indeed, the 
convenient instrument of selfishness on the one hand, and on 
the other, of tyranny and abuse. 

Should it be said that in assuming the right of the State to 
legislate for the education of the people, there is no intention 
to go further, and commit it to this general policy of inter- 
ference with the individual interests of the people, and that, 
therefore, if it be an overstepping of the proper limits of re- 
publicanism, yet, being but one instance, it can have in no 
way any very modifying effect upon the genius of the govern- 
ment : it may be replied, that the intentions which exist in the 
mind of those who establish this precedent, can have but little 
influence upon those who may find the principle involved 
serviceable to their own personal interests. The principle 
once conceded, the question of its application is dependent 
only upon the caprice of the multitude, and inasmuch as there 
are not wanting, in the various operations of society, the con- 
stant occurrence of instances in which the selfishness, or the 
misguided feelings of men, may render it to them desirable to 
enjoy the advantages of government interposition, it is not 
likely that the application of the principle will continue to be 
held in the originally intended limits, but the likelihood 
rather is, that it will be gradually extended, until the result 
is reached of a government without restriction or limit. In 
government, principle is every thing ; and if once departed 
from in any clear and well-defined instance, the guarantees 
are effectually lost of any further maintenance of it. The 
liability to this continued application of the principle of 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 53 

governmental interference in the management of the per- 
sonal interests of the people, when once conceded, is practi- 
cally illustrated in States of our Union, where, in the instance 
of free schools, it has been practically adopted. And both 
philosophy and experience teach us, that if we would guard 
our liberties, and secure to the people the largest facilities for 
their own progress, we must be cautious of a surrender of all 
power not essentially protective and conservative, and espe- 
cially of such as would be liable to such infinite injury and 
abuse. 

But, in answer to all these views, it may be replied, that 
though, as a method for the diffusion of education, State 
agency is not the most eligible or the most efficient, nor is it, 
indeed, strictly accordant with republican ideas, yet it is in 
fact, the only practicable method — the only one likely to be 
attempted, and, therefore, though with all these encum- 
brances, its employment is both justified and demanded. 

Now, we admit that, as long as the method by State agency 
is invariably set forth as the only eligible method, and is 
maintained as such in the popular mind, it will not be prac- 
ticable to develop the method of spontaneous or voluntary 
agency — for the reason that, with this as the preconceived 
and accepted plan, the public mind will be diverted from all 
others, and likewise because of the tendency of human nature 
to adopt any method to reach a given result which promises 
the greatest relief from personal responsibility and trouble. 
But, supposing the method of State agency to be once discarded 
and no longer looked to in public estimation, we maintain 
that, in the progress of society, there would be educed every 
necessary provision for the widest diffusion of every necessary 
educational facility. 

In our country the action of the government is l<at the 
action of the people. When the State, therefore, undertakes 
to provide for the general diffusion of education, it is but an 



54 PROGRESS. 

expression of the sentiment of the people already formed, as 
to their interest and obligation. Prior, therefore, to all State 
action in reference to this subject, there exists in the minds 
of the people a distinct conception of it, and of the responsi- 
bilities it devolves. We maintain, therefore, that the fact of 
the actual employment of State agency in behalf of education 
shows that there exists already in the popular mind every 
condition necessary to the provision of the scheme of popular 
education, and that, existing there consciously and actively, 
their development in actual, efficient methods does not de- 
pend upon the possibility of using the State as a medium, 
but, with necessary time, without this medium, in some spon- 
taneous form, is necessary and inevitable. 

Nor is the question of development, where the intellect 
and conscience of the people are properly awake to this sub- 
ject, to be controlled by the consideration of dollars and 
cents. If government can command the means, as they come 
at last from the people, it is evident that the necessary means 
are among the people ; and there is a progressive tendency in 
ideas of responsibility and interest of this kind, which, when 
once they get abroad in society, will, where the condition of 
that society is free and progressive, gradually accelerate 
their impelling power, until irresistibly they will bring into 
use whatever of means may be necessary to their practical 
execution and fulfillment. 

It is evident, therefore, that in all society like ours, which 
admits of the free, expansive growth of ideas, that stage in 
the progress of it which demands the interposition of the 
State to provide for universal education, presupposes and im- 
plies, as necessary to it, the existence of a class of ideas and 
feelings among the people which, without the medium of the 
State, would, nevertheless, in time, develop themselves in a 
similar provision. 

Moreover, on the plan of investing the Church with the 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 55 

charge of this great interest, which is the policy we insist 
upon, in addition to the self-unfolding character of these 
ideas to which alone the adoption of the plan by the State is 
after all indebted, there will be, in the institution of the 
Church itself, an agency everywhere working to hasten the 
maturity of these ideas, and their exhibition in suitable prac- 
ticable forms. So that, to the extent of the practical 
efficiency of the Church in the preparation of the mind and 
conscience of the people for adaptation to any legitimate 
course of action, when specifically and intentionally directed 
to it, will be, on this voluntary plan, the increased impulse 
given to all the spontaneous tendencies existing to these edu- 
cational provisions. As long as the Church is ignored and 
rejected as the proper agency in the management of this in- 
terest, of course her power in the promotion of them will 
be but incidentally appreciated. But when she assumes the 
entire responsibility of its management, she becomes an 
active agency, through all her various modes of contact with 
the public mind, in the production and training of such 
public sentiment as any demands of this interest may require. 
While, therefore, the State agency plan depends upon a well- 
defined and active public sentiment, which must exist as 
necessary to its adoption, and which, for the reason that it 
finds a public expression in this mode, would, if this were re- 
jected, ultimately adopt some other, the Church agency system 
has, in addition to it, upon which to rest all the .subjective 
tendencies which itself has power to' create and cultivate, 
and to this extent, therefore, has additional advantages for 
the proper preparation of the public mind for the desired 
result. The Church, when she thus lends herself actively to 
this interest, in addition to her capabilities to give impulse to 
those tendencies of a secular character upon which alone 
State agency relies, by her power to quicken and direct 
thought, she has power to arouse the conscience too, and to 



56 PROGRESS. 

bring it to bear, to hasten on, and render more certain the 
realization of the grand object. We maintain, therefore, as a 
conclusion fully made out, that without State agency, there 
will exist, not only all the public sentiment necessary to 
secure the provision of all the educational facilities required 
by the widest demands of society, but that, on the plan of 
voluntary agency, administered by the Church, such senti- 
ment will be sooner elicited, more enlightened and thorough. 
It is idle to say that this sentiment, however fully elicited or 
fully denned, will need the assistance of the State to give it 
practical form and embodiment. The power of the govern- 
ment is but the power of the people at last; and in society 
like ours, free and untrammelled, the proverb, " where there 
is a will there is a way," is always susceptible of practical 
verification. There obtains in such society a law of logical 
succession and. sequence. Prevailing ideas naturally and 
irresistibly evolve themselves in actual outward forms ; and 
states of public consciousness, or more simply of public 
opinion, naturally express themselves in all such outward 
arrangements as are demanded by and adapted to them. 

If it be asked that, if there are in society such spontaneous 
forces existing, as will, without the medium of the State, 
eventually manifest themselves in suitable educational pro- 
visions for the masses, why, in the progress of society, exam- 
ples of such manifestation have not been seen : we reply that, 
under the prevailing notion of State agency, as the only prac- 
ticable method, in all our communities, as soon as these forces 
have approximated the point of a suitable preparation of the 
public mind for action, the State has been seized upon as the 
medium to be used, and with this, as the universally accepted 
plan, the mind of the people has been diverted from all other 
methods. Time has never been given for spontaneous agency 
to find its own method of embodiment and expression, and 
the State plan absorbing the public mind, voluntary agencies, 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 57 

and especially the Church, have not felt the responsibility of 
providing through its own machinery the methods of actual 
development. 

The same general notion as to the exclusive jurisdiction of 
the government existed in a former period in respect of the 
higher departments of education also, and well-nigh all of the 
colleges of the country were indebted to the State for their 
origin and maintenance ; but as society advanced, gradually 
the Church has awakened to a conception of her own respon- 
sibilities in this field, and through her agency colleges and 
high schools have been already everywhere voluntarily estab- 
lished, and a public sentiment is in progress which is destined 
to result in the subjection of the entire management of these 
higher educational interests to the spontaneous agencies of 
society. If the idea of common school education by the 
State could be discarded, a similar growth of public sentiment 
would occur in relation to this department, and the sphere of 
the educational function of the Church would be gradually 
extended until its provisions were adapted to every class, 
and fully met every demand of the entire country. 

There is an impatience in the human mind which too often 
urges it forward to the accomplishment prematurely of grand 
results. There are always leading minds in every community, 
who, in advance of the general mind, are able to conceive of 
results whose realization throughout society they deem desir- 
able, and without a philosophic appreciation of the importance 
of awaiting the progress of society — and having these results 
to grow up, out of, and in harmony with its spontaneous forces, 
exhibiting themselves as the ripe fruit of these forces, brought 
forth and matured according to the natural laws of society — 
they bestir their energies to secure the adoption of arbitrary, 
empirical plans for their accomplishment. Such is the origin 
and such the character of the various systems of common 
school education by the State. They are the practical dis- 
3* 



58 PROGRESS. 

closure of a hasty, impatient public spirit, which if it had 
waited for proper growth and expansion, would have after- 
wards exhibited itself just as certainly, and at a time when it 
would have been a spontaneous outgrowth of society, and in 
perfect adaptation to all the laws regulating it. As it is, it 
is an empirical, arbitrary system, as all systems are, in free 
communities, which seek to manage private and personal 
interests by State rather than by spontaneous, voluntary 
agencies. Society, free and enlightened, is composed of in- 
dividuals of active powers, and they must be prepared for 
any set of blessings before they can advantageously appro- 
priate them, and that preparation will always be indicated by 
a general spontaneous movement to provide them. Coercive, 
arbitrary methods are premature and violative of the laws of 
social government. There is a principle of demand and 
supply in society, untrammelled by artificial, empirical re- 
straints, which naturally regulates its own institutions and 
internal arrangements. And if government will agree to 
relinquish the subject of education to the Church, and so far 
countenance and support it, as to let it alone under the free, 
spontaneous promptings which in the order of progress its 
own internal agencies will evolve, the interests of education 
will be gradually extended and diffused until all the country 
will share its blessings, and that too, on such basis as har- 
monizing with the natural laws of society, they will be but 
the sequence of its own progress, and in agreement with 
every existing relation. 

But if education, in this aggressive or benevolent feature 
of it, which looks to its diffusion, in some sense, among all 
classes — belongs not to the State, but like all its higher de- 
partments, is a function of the Church — we come now to the 
question, in what manner is the Church to fulfil its require- 
ments, and thus complete her system of educational provision ? 

The objects to be provided for, under this aggressive or 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 59 

benevolent feature of educational operation, as before classified, 
are, first, those who are indifferent to educational privileges 
from mere ignorance or indisposition : and, second, those who 
are denied these privileges from absolute poverty. Shall 
these be treated alike, and under a general system of free 
education, provided for by the Church, be secured the privi- 
leges of elementary education in common ? or shall these be 
discriminated, and each be provided for on a basis separate 
and distinct? 

The first is the method of the State, in many portions of 
the Union, and is the favorite method everywhere as predi- 
cated of State action. But considered as the method of the 
Church, which is the point of view from which we are now 
to regard it, we hold it radically objectionable, and for reasons 
which tend still farther to discredit any connexion of the 
State with the subject. 

Any general method which embraced equally all who fall 
within these two classes, could not be restricted to them alone ; 
but would necessarily, in its practical execution, likewise em- 
brace many who, without this provision, would, on their own 
responsibility, avail themselves of the common educational 
facilities of the country, and who consequently, in the sense 
of either of these classes, do not need the application of this 
aggressive or benevolent educational function. The causes 
which would lead to this are such as arise from deeply laid 
principles of human nature, and from the difficulties that are 
inseparable from practical discrimination. And so necessarily 
does this result follow from this general method of treating 
the entire beneficiary class, that those States which have un- 
dertaken to provide for this class have not attempted the dis- 
crimination, but have boldly met the difficulty by assuming 
the free education of all classes, as well those who would be 
educated without such aid, as those who would not. 

The objections to this blending of those who, without help, 



60 PROGRESS. 

would help themselves, and those properly the beneficiary 
classes, are several. 

It introduces those into a general scheme of benevolence, 
as objects of it, who are not so in any true and proper sense 
— a state of things which, from the nature of the case, must 
work injuriously, both as to these objects themselves and the 
cause. Benevolence is necessarily misplaced when the objects 
of it do not properly come within its design, and the chances 
to secure benevolent cooperation are diminished when the 
scheme of its operations is clogged by the intermingling of 
objects not recognized as falling within its legitimate in- 
tention. 

Again : while this blending of those not properly embraced 
within the beneficiary class, in this general aggressive scheme, 
does not really increase the number sharing the benefits of 
the educational function, since, without it, they would them- 
selves seek them, and consequently does not really further 
educational interests, it increases the amount of benevolent 
effort demanded, complicates and extends the machinery of 
operations, and thereby tends to impair and defeat the whole 
scheme, as applicable to those, the proper objects of it. 

Again : this general method, so far from benefitting those 
not of the beneficiary class included in it, absolutely tends, in 
reference to them, to lower the standard of education, and in 
many respects to diminish their advantages as compared with 
those they would enjoy under a system distinct and independ- 
ent. Any general system, as this would be, covering a wide 
territory, in which every school is dependent upon the effici- 
ency of the whole system, and in its management complicated 
with it, could not be so efficient as would schools which are 
independent and responsible only to local claims and influences. 
Admitting that it might create educational facilities in some 
places before destitute, yet in respect of those already exist- 
ing, its tendency would be to depress. The effect, therefore, 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 61 

would be to lower the general standard of education, in respect 
of those who, if they were not included in this general scheme, 
would be provided for in methods independent and corres- 
pondent with the capabilities of the country for enlargement 
and elevation. Individual enterprise, which has personal 
interest in view, will always reach a higher standard of at- 
tainment, when independent in its action, than when fettered by 
the connections of extended combination, and dependent upon 
the slow-moving machinery of wide and complicated system. 

Moreover, in this general system, which has, as its primary 
object, the benefit of the strictly beneficiary classes, the 
energies of it must be directed to what are recognized as the 
primary or elementary departments of education, and under 
this restriction, necessarily, the more advanced departments 
will be less efficiently provided for and conducted than under 
the independent system, where schools are supplied, in kind 
and character, to meet the precise existing wants of commu- 
nities. In education, as in all other general interests, the 
principle of distribution must obtain; and that system, which 
has for its fundamental object a wide diffusion of rudimental 
education, is not the best calculated to provide the more ele- 
vated and advanced. And those who desire the benefits of 
these higher departments ought to have them provided under 
a system independent, and which allows of any adaptation 
suitable to the wants of its patrons. 

We maintain, therefore, that under a general method of 
free education, provided for the proper objects of benevolent 
exertion, those included in it not such objects would have 
fewer advantages for extended educational benefits than under 
a system allowing free scope for individual and local enter- 
prise; and that any general system of free education, whether 
provided by the Church or State, necessarily has a depressing 
or restraining influence upon the general standard of acade- 
mical education. 



62 PROGRESS. 

But conceding that the beneficiary class might be so sepa- 
rated as to allow of the application of benevolent educational 
effort exclusively to them, still we maintain that any general 
plan which provides education alike for them, without dis- 
crimination, is exceedingly objectionable. 

The beneficiary classes, as before stated, are two — first, 
those who are able to pay for their education, but who fail to 
seek it of their own accord, by reason of ignorance or a want 
of appreciation of its value ; and, second — those whose poverty 
denies them educational privileges. Now, the former class is 
large, varying in number in different localities ; but the latter 
class, in respect of mere elementary education, and it is to 
this department we now refer, in this country, where opportu- 
nities of abundant livelihood are so favorable, are very small, 
especially outside of the cities. It follows, therefore, that 
under this plan of providing free education for both of these 
classes, by far the largest portion thus receiving their educa- 
tion, free of cost, will consist of those who are able to pay for 
it themselves. 

Now, there are several objections to this provision of free 
education for those who do not need it. 

It removes from parents and persons, generally, of this 
rank in life, the chief incentives to industry and thrift. The 
progress and prosperity of society depends very much upon 
the strength and variety of the motives which operate upon 
its different classes to self-improvement and elevation. Hence, 
the great value of republican government, since the freedom 
which it secures leaves society in that condition to be acces- 
sible to the greatest number of motives to enterprise and im- 
provement. Among these motives, the most pervading and 
powerful is the desire to improve the condition and to pro- 
mote the happiness of offspring. Its influence is powerful, 
and so ramifies the operations of society, that if its effects 
were blotted out, it would leave society deprived of what now 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 63 

most constitutes both its conservative and aggressive ele- 
ments. 

But what if it were a regulation of society that all were 
necessarily to be educated, and that the question of the ability 
of parents to educate their own was in no wise a part of the 
plan ; but that mere inactivity toward this result was suffi- 
cient to insure, in their behalf, an application of the educa- 
tional function, free of cost, to what an extent would it 
diminish the motives to action growing out of parental affec- 
tion and relationship; and how paralyzing the influence upon 
the energies, the enterprise, the industry and thrift of the 
people ; and what a prolific source it would become of indo- 
lence and prodigality. Its effect would be not only to pre- 
vent the emergence of many, now so far depressed, as to be 
unable themselves liberally to educate their offspring, to the 
position in which they would be able to accomplish this 
result, but likewise absolutely to extend and multiply the 
number now in that depressed condition. 

But if education thus was necessarily to be extended to all, 
and mere apparent indisposition to it would secure it free of 
cost, its effect would still farther be to cause many who other- 
wise would, at their own expense, educate their children, pur- 
posely to assume such an attitude as to claim and enjoy this 
gratuitous benefit, and thus to discourage and forestall the 
spontaneous, active impulses of the people to seek out and 
appropriate for themselves the benefits of education. 

So disastrous would be the influence upon society by this 
destructive effect upon a motive which underlies so many of 
its greatest excellences and highest achievements, that the 
blessings of this extension of education would be a poor com- 
pensation, indeed, even if such a sacrifice were indispensable 
to secure them. Society always makes an unwise bargain 
whenever she exchanges any principle of free, spontaneous 
development, especially when that development is of resources 



64 PROGRESS. 

and interests that are vital and precious, for the sake of any 
good, however attractive and promising. The policy itself is 
fundamentally wrong. Society gains — advances by sponta- 
neous internal growth, rather than by accretion. Hers is an 
endogenous rather than an exogenous nature, and her resources 
are strengthened by influences that vitalize and expand her 
internal capabilities, rather than by such accumulations as 
come from forces without. These accumulations, however 
desirable, as the product of internal forces, when thus derived 
from without, indicate nothing as to real character, and only 
serve to impede and destroy the genuine resources within. 

But society is not reduced to this alternative of the aban- 
donment of this conservative and yet progressive principle, 
or of failure in the realization of this universal diffusion of 
education. It is competent for her, as we shall presently see, 
to provide the means which shall not only leave this principle 
free to develop itself, free to confer its fullest blessings, but 
shall, indeed, incorporate it as the basis of their own action, 
by which, at last, this precious boon shall be everywhere 
diffused. 

But this system, which proposes to extend aid to a class in 
respect of that in which they can help themselves, is objec- 
tionable on other grounds. 

Blessings cheaply obtained are never adequately prized, 
and the want of this appreciation is always in the inverse 
ratio of the magnitude of these blessings. Nature recognizes 
this law in that other law of general application, which an- 
nexes labor, and toil, and sacrifice, as the condition to the 
attainment of all grand results. This principle alone would 
condemn this system. Indeed, education, coming gratuit- 
ously to those who are able to pay for it, at once excites sus- 
picion as to its value. Men who are accustomed to receive 
favors only in consideration of an equivalent given, very 
naturally acquire the habit of estimating the value of things 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 65 

by their cost j and therefore very naturally consider this of 
little worth, which, though they have the ability, they are not 
required to pay for it. 

Again : When men pay for their advantages, they are 
stimulated to improve them, by the consideration of the sacri- 
fice they make to obtain them. But when education is thus 
free, this incentive is not enjoyed, and there is a correspond- 
ing diminution in the amount of benefit realized. 

The very commonness of educational privileges, without 
these means of cultivating ideas of their importance, tends 
to foster a spirit of carelessness and indifference to them. 
And if men are prompted to avail themselves of these gra- 
tuitous advantages, they will not be apt to provide for them- 
selves very extensively such as require pecuniary outlay. 
Now, though there are supernatural agencies engaged in the 
prosecution of the gospel mission, still its plan embraces the 
principle of its support by the individual contributions of 
those who enjoy it — a feature established, no doubt, in view 
of these general principles of human nature, and should teach 
the lesson of the folly of the policy which attempts the gra- 
tuitous bestowment of great blessings. 

But if this free or gratuitous policy thus injures the cause 
of education by its unfavorable action upon the views and 
impulses of those who are to share it, it has a no less unhappy 
influence upon the educational agencies themselves. When 
education is paid for by those who receive it, parents are care- 
ful and watchful of the advantages afforded, and the success 
of teachers, as to the profits of their labor, therefore, is in 
proportion to the effort and ability they put forth. There is, 
accordingly, a constant direct stimulus afforded to give the 
highest efficiency to the schools of the country. But when 
education is free, the same incentives to watchfulness by 
parents not being felt, the teachers themselves are without 
these motives to energy and effort : their care and diligence 



66 PROGRESS. 

are proportionally relaxed, and of course the schools are less 
efficiently and usefully conducted. 

But this system is further objectionable, because it pro- 
poses to accomplish at once, by arbitrary means, what ought 
to be brought about gradually as the result of the quickened, 
spontaneous forces themselves of society. Now, universal 
education is a great achievement, but it should be looked to 
not as one of those results which at any time may be forced 
upon society ; but rather as a grand consummation, to which 
all the forces of society are tending, and which is to be 
reached as the fruit of a certain stage of growth ; and which, 
when that stage is arrived at, comes out naturally as a neces- 
sary and inevitable sequence. When results are thus real- 
ized, as the gradual development of internal active agencies, 
and not by an arbitrary system forced upon classes of men in 
passive attitude, necessarily there is a general preparation for 
these results : the whole frame-work of society, in all its 
parts, has become so moulded as to assume an adaptation to 
them : they come, therefore, naturally, in conformity to the 
laws of social progress, and society is not only in a condition 
to experience them without violence to any of its internal 
relations, but to appropriate them, and to enjoy the full mea- 
sure of their benefits. The tree is fully matured, and the 
time for fruit-bearing has come ; and though, by a dwarfing, 
stunting process, fruit defective and imperfect may have 
sooner appeared, yet now it appears all perfect and entire, 
and without detriment to any interest involved. It is un- 
philosophic — it is empirical — to maintain that universal edu- 
cation is necessarily a blessing. When the result of a forc- 
ing, arbitrary process, it is an evil — -an evil proportionally 
great, according to the relative number in society who, with- 
out this process, would remain destitute of education. New 
England, and the Northern States generally, which have 
adopted this arbitrary plan, have felt this evil. Restlessness, 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 67 

fanaticism, ultraism, and many other ills, are the fruitful 
consequences of it ; and its effects would have been felt much 
more perniciously, but for the influx of foreign population, 
which, among the evils that have been entailed by their intro- 
duction, have subserved one good purpose, in that they have 
tended to keep up that equipoise in the frame-work of society 
necessary to that stage of its progress now existing there, and 
which this common-school system constantly tends to destroy. 
The time will come when, in the North as well as in the 
South, universal education will be desirable, and when it will 
be realized without this forcing system ; but it will be when 
the masses of society, under its own progressive agencies, 
have so moved upward in regular gradation, as that, while 
all these gradations now existing are still maintained, yet all 
are so far elevated as to require that even the lowest, to fit it 
for its own sphere, shall be imbued with some of the elements 
of literary education. This time will come, for progress is 
the law of society, so free and untrammelled as ours ; and 
when it arrives, universal education will be a simultaneous 
achievement — a sequence natural and implied. And while 
this grand consummation will be an index of this high stage 
of progress, it will become an incorporated element of yet 
higher and accelerated future advancement. 

It is, then, by some system which operates as a quickener 
of internal, spontaneous agencies, and contributes to their 
unfolding, and not by that which arbitrarily provides for the 
immediate attainment of the result, that we conform to the 
social law of God in bringing about universal education, and 
should seek to realize this great end ; and because this sys- 
tem in question is not of this kind, but precisely the other, 
we regard it radically objectionable. 

But we are opposed to this system because, in respect of 
this largest division of the beneficiary class, it provides help 
which is not needed. They are able to pay for education, 



68 PROGRESS. 

consequently, whatever other advantages they need to secure 
their education, they do not need that it be furnished them 
free of cost. It follows, therefore, that in so far as any sys- 
tem provides this class with gratuitous education, it helps 
them in respect of that they have the ability to help them- 
selves — in short, it. affords them help they do not need. To 
say nothing of the superfluous effort, trouble, and expense to 
which this subjects the benevolent function, the principle 
itself is wrong and hurtful. It is a safe principle, that in all 
efforts to improve and elevate men, no more external effort 
should be used, no more machinery should be employed, than 
is necessary in respect to those acted upon to bring into use 
and make active the capabilities they already enjoy. The 
policy should be to have men to help themselves as far as 
possible, and no more aid should be given than is necessary 
to remove insuperable difficulties, and to enable those sought 
to be benefitted to work out for themselves their own im- 
provement. Any thing more than this tends to destroy both 
self-respect and self-reliance, and to preclude that spirit of 
enterprise and energy inseparable from all elevated and use- 
ful character. It is a principle in physiology that any artifi- 
cial aid rendered to any functions of the body, by which their 
own natural exercise is prevented or superseded, will even- 
tually weaken those functions and vitiate the condition of the 
whole system. The same principles obtain in respect of other 
powers of man, whether considered in themselves or in their 
external bearings. Any arrangement of society which super- 
sedes the active use of capabilities and means which men 
already enjoy, has a general enfeebling influence, and pre- 
cludes the healthy, vigorous development of many of the 
most important resources. The entire tendency is to enfeeble 
character, to multiply indigence, and thus to increase the 
demands for benevolent effort. Man must be treated as a 
being of active powers — as susceptible of improvement and 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 69 

elevation only by the development of resources already im- 
bedded within him. And instead of creating help for him 
wherein he can help himself, and thereby weakening him, 
the policy should be to recognize his own resources, and tc 
provide for him only that which, in connection with the en- 
tire use of all he has within himself, will be necessary to ac- 
complish the intended result. Any system of education, 
therefore, proper to the beneficiary classes, ought to avail itself 
of whatever of means may already exist among that class, 
and provide by its own active agency only so much as may be 
necessary to supplement those means; and because this 
system of providing gratuitous education for the largest 
portion of that class transcends this limit, we regard it in- 
judicious and objectionable. 

The conclusion then we consider safely arrived at, that in 
providing for the education of the beneficiary class, the 
Church ought not to treat the two divisions of which that 
class is composed alike, by adopting for both a general system 
of free education, but that, in its general plan, these two 
should be discriminated and provided for in methods distinct 
and peculiar. 

In stating the method proper to each division, we notice, 
first, that which should be adopted for the largest, viz., those 
who have ability to pay for education, but who are prevented 
from becoming the active seekers of it, by ignorance or want 
of appreciation of it. 

Now, any method of sufficient comprehensiveness and vigor 
to meet all the wants of this class, scattered as they are over 
the wide extent of our entire territory, and in great diversity 
of condition, must necessarily embrace several distinct fea- 
tures. 

Prevented as they are by ignorance, and not by want of 
pecuniary ability, from such active steps as will enable them 
to provide, of their own accord, their own educational facili- 



70 PROGRESS. 

ties, it is evident that any instrumentality that will tend to 
remove that ignorance and awaken a sense of the value of 
education, will constitute an important element in any general 
system for the education of this class. These people have 
the love of offspring, the susceptibilities of pride and ambi- 
tion, and all the latent impulses of our common nature to 
improvement and elevation ; and could proper ideas be infused 
and their intellects be aroused to a consideration of the ad- 
vantages of education, naturally and necessarily they would 
be stimulated to seek out for themselves educational privi- 
leges. 

The proper development of the higher educational estab- 
lishments of the country will contribute much to the removal 
of this ignorance, and to the spread of enlightened views in 
respect of this general subject. In proportion as these are 
rendered active in the multiplication of educated men through- 
out the country, the opportunities of perceiving the benefits 
of education will be diffused. Every rightly educated man 
is a centre of light as to the value of education, in the com- 
munity in which he lives, both in his example and through 
his active efforts. And in respect of the ignorant class, he fur- 
nishes an argument and illustration upon this subject, the 
most of all potent, since they are ocular and tangible, requir- 
ing for their appreciation no effort of reasoning, but only that 
of simple perception. As these then are multiplied, the 
ideas of education's benefits are extended, ignorance is dis- 
persed, and the number of those desiring educational privi- 
leges is constantly increased. Indeed, this is the most 
natural method of diffusing education. Light naturally comes 
from above. And this principle of descent in the diffusion 
of all the higher interests of the mind, is not only the most 
natural, but the most safe, as to the organism of society. 

But, in addition to this active agency thus exerted in the 
spread of enlightened views as to the value of education 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 71 

among the humbler classes, their necessary effect is to mul- 
tiply the number of teachers of the country, who, in obtain- 
ing employment for themselves, in many ways awaken a 
demand and inspire an interest among these classes in behalf 
of education. They are, indeed, the active agents in behalf 
of education, ramifying the country every where, arousing 
the people to a sense of its claims, and of their interest in 
respect of it. 

A thoughtful examination of the history of these estab- 
lishments will show their potency, as enlighteners of the pub- 
lic mind of every class, and will disclose ample ground of 
assurance that time and patience would render these alone a 
sufficient instrumentality for such preparation as the masses 
need, to render them the spontaneous seekers of their own 
education. 

It constitutes, then, an additional reason for the full em- 
ployment of the higher educational function, that it sustains 
so important a relation to the great question of the age, the 
universal diffusion of some measure of literary education. 

But as the entire business of education in all its depart- 
ments, falls within the Church, it is her duty so to expand 
her system as to fulfil its entire requirements; and, conse- 
quently, it devolves upon her not to depend for this enlight- 
ening result, if any thing more certain can be done, upon 
mere incidental effects. What arrangement then could she 
make by which to bring her agencies specifically to bear upon 
this prevailing ignorance, and render herself directly to this 
class an enlightener in respect of the claims of education ? 

The Church forms herself, in her organic capacity, into a 
Missionary Society and into a Sunday-school Society; and 
these are found to subserve valuable purposes, as furnishing 
the necessary machinery for their maintenance and prosecu- 
tion. Let her form herself into an educational union with 
reference to the general management of the entire subject of 



72 PROGRESS. 

education. It would not be difficult to show the important 
service such an organism might render in the establishment 
and maintenance of the higher educational interests of the 
country. Indeed, the Church will never advance to the point 
of proper apprehension of her relation to the educational 
function, or unfold the method of her suitable action with 
reference to it, until some such plan is adopted. Let it be 
the policy of these Church educational unions to divide each 
State into as many districts as may be practicable, and to ap- 
point to each of these one or more persons qualified by suit- 
able experience and mental gifts, whose duty it shall be to 
supervise, in their respective districts the general subject of 
education, especially in its relations to the humbler class — to 
acquaint themselves with the condition and wants of this 
class — to go among them in the dark corners of the country, 
and by suitable lectures, and, as far as possible, by familiar 
interviews, to enlighten their views, multiply their ideas, and 
instruct them as to the importance of self-culture and educa- 
tional attainment. In addition, let it be understood that 
educational interests, especially in their relation to the bene- 
ficiary classes that lie within his own field of labor, falls 
within the sphere of the preacher's duties, and <that among 
other duties, he shall preach and lecture, and converse in all 
sections of his work in reference to educational claims, and 
become an active agency in respect of these humbler classes, 
especially to enlist them in the cause of their own education. 
Now, what an enlightening influence a system of this kind 
could exert upon the popular mind, in reference to the general 
subject of education ! It would be a positive agency — rami- 
fying the whole country — bringing to bear the combined 
energies of the entire Church upon the great result of awaken- 
ing the people of every grade to its just appreciation. For 
when thus recognized and provided for by the ministry, the 
very relation they sustain as the leaders of all Church enter- 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 73 

prise, would not fail to secure the general cooperation of the 
membership in behalf of the appointed result ; and with these 
enlisted in the general scheme, no arrangement could be more 
complete for its successful accomplishment. 

But if, in this age of impatience, society cannot await the 
slow effects of the higher educational establishments, although, 
if time be allowed them, their inevitable tendency would be 
to work out the desired end of universal education, neither, 
perhaps, would it be content with this limitation of the 
operations of the Church, as effective as they would -be in 
hastening this result. It devolves upon the Church, there- 
fore, in addition to these enlightening, persuasive instrumen- 
talities, to incorporate such features as will give to her system 
a more aggressive character, and make it the positive instru- 
ment for providing education for the beneficiary classes. 

To secure this active element, let it be an additional feature 
in the plan of this Church educational union, that each 
preacher's circuit or station be formed into a subordinate or 
auxiliary Church union, the members of which shall them- 
selves, or by committee, constitute agents, whose business it 
shall be in cooperation with, or under the general direction 
of the preachers and district agents, to visit the various des- 
titute neighborhoods, and interest the people in the formation 
of schools — to seek out teachers for them — furnish advice as 
to details in respect of suitable sites for school houses, of the 
methods of combination and concert, and in every prudent 
way, under the guidance of genuine Christian benevolence, 
point out the way and provide the necessary facilities by 
which they, in the use of their own resources, might establish 
for themselves such schools as are suitable to their circum- 
stances and wants. In addition, it might be another feature 
of these auxiliary educational unions, where the circumstances 
of its members would justify it, to provide, by regular collec- 
tions, a fund to be used for defraying, in part, the salaries of 
4 



74 PROGRESS. 

teachers, so that in those neighborhoods where the people 
were the least able to pay their teachers, they might be in- 
duced the more readily to respond to these efforts by some 
partial assistance rendered. This policy is recommended, 
furthermore, by the practical evidence it would furnish of 
disinterestedness and true kindness; and its tendency, there- 
fore, to remove from the mind of the beneficiary distrust and 
suspicion. 

To awaken interest — to stimulate exertion — and to afford 
increased light — these subordinate unions might appoint an- 
nually, or semi-annually, visitors to these various schools, 
especially on occasions of their examinations, to afford coun- 
tenance, and, if deemed proper, to address the people on the 
claims of education. They might appoint annual celebrations, 
to be held at eligible places, in which all the schools within 
their respective jurisdictions, either in mass or by represen- 
tatives, would be embraced, and at which the district agent 
should be present, and addresses be delivered suitable to the 
enlightenment of the people and their enlistment in the cause 
of education. 

Now, it is not contended that a system so broad and re- 
plete with details, could at once be practically developed, and 
put every where in the most efficient and successful operation. 
The Church has no power of compulsory process by which to 
coerce her membership into enterprises of this kind, and se- 
cure vigor and faithfulness in their prosecution. Still it is 
the business of the Church, with enlarged and enlightened 
views, to comprehend the entire sphere of her proper action, 
and to arrange her machinery with reference to it. And 
though difficulties may exist, and time may be required to 
set in motion every department of that machinery, and to 
enable it to realize the total of the objects for which it was 
constructed, yet she is not to be deterred by this considera- 
tion, but only to derive from it reasons for increased diligence 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION, iO 

and energy in its arrangement and management. There is a 
vitalizing property inherent in every true Church, which 
tends to impart an aggressive capability to all the various 
schemes which her own legitimate functions demand. More- 
over, in respect of this particular system, the constant appli- 
ances of enlightenment and incentive, its own mechanism is 
perpetually bringing to bear, the knowledge of experience, 
and the experience of success, all constitute so many active 
influences for its full expansion, and its prosecution to the 
speedy realization of its intended results. In general, the 
Church needs only to be properly enlightened in respect of 
any line of conduct proper to be pursued, that her own spon- 
taneous energies may prompt to its successful pursuance. 
But this system, recognized and adopted as the policy of 
the Church, will, itself, at once tend to educate the Church 
as to her duty in these premises, and every step in its pro- 
gress, while it will tend to increase the general enlightenment, 
will, by the increased confidence it will impart, embolden and 
stimulate the Church to yet more active zeal and vigorous 
enterprise. However far, then, this system, in the outset 
may come short of the fullest success, or unpromising it may 
seem to be, still it has embraced within it all the provision 
necessary to meet the great objects had in view, and will, if 
time be allowed, ultimately exhibit itself in all the proportions 
necessary to complete adaptation and fullest efficiency. 

This system, as the plan of the Church, is further recom- 
mended by several considerations. First: it will put the 
selection of teachers for these common schools, to a large 
extent, in the hands of the Church. By this result, these 
schools, to that extent, will be saved from such teachers as 
would antagonize the interests of Christianity, and means 
will be afforded the Church of subjecting these schools to her 
own uses. Second : it will, by placing these schools directly 
jnder the auspices and fostering care of the Church, increase 



76 PROGRESS. 

her influence over those sharing their benefits, and thereby 
multiply the friends and the subjects of Christianity. Third: 
it will furnish to Christians a field for the exercise of bene- 
volence and zeal, and, indeed, all the various qualities which 
belong to a full Christian experience. In this way its reflex 
influence will be admirable, tending to such cultivation and 
enlargement as is implied in a growing progressive piety. 

But in reference to many portions of our country, there is 
for any thing like any very considerable extension of school 
privileges among the ignorant and humble, a very great lack 
of teachers, so that, whatever might be the perfection of the 
machinery otherwise, it would be, until some provision is made 
for the supply of that lack, inadequate to accomplish its in- 
tended object. Indeed, it is not too much to say that if 
there were enough of that class constantly provided in the 
country, there would be nothing more wanted to secure such 
constant extension of school privileges over the land, as would 
in time result in the attainment of the object aimed at — their 
universal diffusion throughout the entire country. They 
themselves would effect what we contend is the only thing 
this first division of the beneficiary class need to have done 
in their behalf. Their multiplication would make it neces- 
sary that they should not limit their efforts to obtain patron- 
age to those more advanced portions of community which 
themselves already desire and seek for teachers, — but, in 
regard to many, that they should go out into all sections 
where children are to be found, and by their own exertions 
create and organize demand for education. These, then, in 
themselves would constitute an aggressive agency, and just 
such as the beneficiary class need, that they may be so 
enlightened and stimulated, as that they, on their own accord, 
may be prompted to avail themselves of educational pri- 
vileges. If society could be patient, this method would of 
itself in time secure the desired result, and secure it in 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 77 

harmony with natural law and the established principles of 
social progress. It could not, it is true, compass the entire 
object at once, but it contains the element of expansion and 
progress. Every step would but open the way for farther 
and accelerated movement, and time would give it the im- 
pulse and facilities of a complete system for the universal 
education of the people. 

A provision, then, for an increase of teachers, is necessary 
in any plan for the education of the beneficiary classes. And 
here we find an additional consideration in favor of that 
benevolent feature, which we have maintained to be im- 
portant as connected with our higher educational establish- 
ments. Teaching, as an employment which may be rendered 
most readily available for pecuniary gain, is the business to 
which most young men betake themselves who, without means 
themselves, have been educated as beneficiaries. Whatever, 
then, benevolence does in affording collegiate education gra- 
tuitously, for the most part, contributes to the increase of the 
supply of teachers ; and it might make this result certain by 
imposing it as a condition that those sharing it should devote 
their time, or some prescribed portion of it, to the business 
of teaching. It is, then, by the extension of the benevolent 
feature, as connected with our higher educational institutions, 
that teachers are to be multiplied. The denominational 
colleges of the country, by the peculiar relation they sustain 
to the poorer classes, through their relations to the Church, 
and in virtue of the aims of usefulness, under which they are 
conducted, are already contributing largely to supply this 
public want. And it is a consideration in proof of the 
suitableness of the Church as the proper agency in the eon- 
duct of the educational interests of society, that these, her 
own institutions, have peculiar efficiency in accomplishing this 
result. But the Church has ample ability, by suitable en- 
dowments, to extend the benevolent operations of our higher 



78 PROGRESS. 

institutions of learning, and, consequently, to multiply 
teachers to any extent demanded, Let her arouse herself to 
this enterprise — let her direct herself to the attainment of this 
result. All her efforts and all the efforts of the country to 
accomplish the education of this beneficiary class are vain 
without it, hut with it she has already fulfilled every condi- 
tion necessary to its attainment ; and whatever else she might 
do would not be necessary as a requisite to success, but at 
best would only contribute to hasten that which already would 
be inevitable. 

Tailing, then, all these various elements together, as con- 
stituting the proper plan in behalf of that portion of the 
beneficiary class who themselves are able to pay for their 
education, they embrace every provision necessary to secure 
the education of that class — indeed, they afford them every 
possible assistance to this end, without transcending the 
limits in which assistance is a blessing — every possible aid, 
save that of making the proffered boon an entire gratuity. 
First, the negative effect is secured of the removal of the 
chief hinderances — ignorance and supineness — and, Second, 
the positive effect of actually rendering every assistance 
required to put them in the way to make their own resources 
available and sufficient for the attainment of the desired 
results. 

A system thus comprehensive and wisely adapted lacks 
nothing, if faithfully executed, to work out the necessary 
education and elevation of this class of the people, and upon 
such principles as do no violence to the necessary and natural 
laws of society. When put fully into execution, every step 
of its progress but accelerates the process. The education 
of one individual of this class provokes another to use the 
means to attain the like blessing. The education of one 
neighborhood — of one community — awakens attention to this 
subject in other neighborhoods and communities, and thus 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 79 

every achievement made but extends and invigorates the 
capabilities of the enterprise, until, finally, its own success 
will in itself afford every needed resource and facility for its 
own universal success, and the grand result will be reached 
of the education of all the people. 

But if this be the method proper to provide for the edu- 
cation of the first division of the beneficiary class, what now 
is the method suitable to secure the same to the other divi- 
sion, viz., those who are denied the privileges of education 
from actual pecuniary destitution ? 

Now, we maintain that if this method we have specified 
as appropriate for the first class were put in execution and 
faithfully prosecuted, in most neighborhoods there would be 
none found in this second class, and in any neighborhood the 
number would be exceedingly small. For, while from the 
abundance of the means of livelihood in our own happy 
country, the number of this class, under any circumstances, 
is very limited, the generally improved condition of the 
humbler classes, the result of the operation of this plan for 
their relief would so diffuse a spirit of self-respect, of thrifti- 
ness and enterprise, that, with the facilities in reach of all, 
but few would be left in a condition helpless and dependent. 
Under this plan, by which schools are everywhere brought to 
the- doors of the people, many of those now thought to be 
entirely destitute, would manage to educate, at their own 
expense, their children ; and when the plan had time fully 
to bring forth its fruits this number would be found to be so 
great as to leave but few any where unembraced. 

Still, it is true that after this plan had fully unfolded all 
its capabilities, there would be found those who were denied 
educational advantages by reason of destitution. It is easy 
to see, however, that, under the plan of subordinate or 
auxiliary educational unions, every necessary provision for the 
elementary education of this class is entirely practicable. 



80 PROGRESS. 

How easy would it be to devise the necessary methods of 
ascertaining by actual inspection the number of those belong- 
ing to this class, within the limits of the jurisdiction of each 
of these unions ; and then, if the benevolence of the Church 
were properly enlisted, to raise a fund to be appropriated, 
under the supervision of these agencies, to meet the expenses 
requisite to their elementary education. Nowhere would 
the drafts upon the pecuniary aid of the Church be sufficient 
to make them a heavy tax. The object is entirely feasible, 
and system, under the guidance of prudence and bene- 
volence, is alone necessary triumphantly to achieve it. And 
what a noble field for the expansion and cultivation of the 
benevolence and zeal of the Church is presented by such a 
plan of usefulness ! This view alone would point out this 
plan as proper to be seized upon by the Church, and would 
recommend it as the true course to accomplish this desired 
result. Oh, if the Church understood her true interests, and 
the proper methods for the development of her piety, she 
would away with this dependence upon State agency and 
secular combination to achieve these results of good, as so 
many hinderances to her own full and free expansion, and 
would at once, on her own responsibility, address herself to 
them as her own legitimate objects, rejoicing in that economy 
of Grod which opened them up to her, as a furnished theatre 
for the cultivation and display of her own virtues, and the 
abundant occasion of her own enlargement and progress. 

In what we have said thus far, we have discriminated the 
two divisions of the beneficiary class, and have confined our- 
selves to a specification of the method proper to each ; but 
there is another agency which, if suitably employed, might 
be found in itself sufficient to meet all the claims of this entire 
class, and, when used in conjunction with the other agen- 
cies, would contribute greatly to their success. We mean 
the Sunday-school system. We speak of it now as disso- 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 81 

eiated from its immediate religious purposes and bearings, 
and with exclusive reference to its effect as an instrument for 
the diffusion of elementary education. Experience has abun- 
dantly demonstrated its competency to this result. Thou- 
sands of our own land have learned to read through no other 
aid than such as it furnished ; and if this were generally recog- 
nized as one of its functions, and it were specifically directed 
in its management to its accomplishment, it might be made 
to achieve results in behalf of the elementary education of 
the beneficiary class that would justify the erection of it into 
one of the chief instrumentalities of the Church for the gene- 
ral diffusion of education. It is a system capable of unlimited 
expansion. The history of the Sunday-school Unions of the 
Church demonstrates the practicability of the extension of the 
Sunday-school system into every precinct of the Church's 
jurisdiction. Let the Church, then, be awake to this par- 
ticular capability of the Sunday-school, and let her incor- 
porate this instrumentality into her system for the accomplish- 
ment of the great object before her — the general diffusion 
among the humbler classes of some measure of literary edu- 
cation. 

In the extended scheme which we have thus unfolded, as 
embracing what is necessary to the development of the edu- 
cational function of the Church, it will be seen that there is 
a mutual dependence of parts, whereby the development of 
one tends to bring out and promote the efficiency of all the 
rest. It is a system made up of parts so involved and com- 
pacted together, that, while the absence of one necessarily 
impairs the action of all the rest, the existence and proper 
action of each enhances the vigor and energy of the whole. 
The Church, then, can do justice to no one department of 
her educational interests until she completes the entire sphere 
of her educational objects. Her colleges and universities 
are unfurnished with the means to achieve their fullest re- 
4* 



82 PROGRESS. 

suits of good, whatever eke they may enjoy, until the aca- 
demies of the country, preparatory to, and the feeders of them, 
are themselves placed upon the right basis with respect both 
to their modes of instruction and their modes of discipline ; 
and these last themselves are fostered and promoted by that 
general scheme which brings every mind within the sphere 
of educational provision. While, then, to compass every end 
which the educational function of the Church contemplates, 
a system less comprehensive is insufficient, the highest suc- 
cess of any one of the departments of education no less 
requires the practical unfolding of the entire system. Hence 
the importance of enlarged and liberal views in respect of 
educational enterprise. There is danger in some sections — 
and the history of education in the Northern States illustrates 
it — that the idea of diffusion, as represented in the system 
for the masses, will overbear and shut out the idea of eleva- 
tion, as represented in the colleges and universities. On the 
other hand, there is danger that exclusive concentration of 
attention and energy upon the higher educational establish- 
ments, will involve a neglect of those subordinate institutions, 
no less necessary to the complete development of any ade- 
quate educational system. The Church should expand her 
views, and, rightly comprehending the full extent of her rela- 
tions, and the mutual dependence of all the departments of 
her enterprise, should give that attention to each and all 
necessary to their proper relative unfolding, and their well- 
balanced, harmonious action. The multiplication of rival 
schools, within judicious limits, furnishes no just occasion of 
suspicion and jealousy. Education evolves education. The 
prosperity of one occasions the means of the prosperity of 
others. Every properly conducted school is a light whose 
beneficial influence is not bounded by the limits of its own pa- 
tronage ; but goes out into other circles, and creates influence 
and support in behalf of similar enterprises elsewhere. 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 83 

Happily, then, for the cause of education, there is not only, 
as between its different departments, but as between separate 
interests of the same department, an inter-action and mutual 
dependence, whose tendency it is to elicit in all enlarged and 
expansive feelings of good-will and support, and mutually to 
enlist and combine all of every section in behalf of the inte- 
rests of education wherever found. 

But if it be the business of the Church to arrange for 
and conduct the training of the rising generation, it is not 
enough that she provides the amplest facilities for mere lite- 
rary education, even though these be connected with every 
possible agency that would give them a religious direction 
and influence. The spiritual character of the Church, as well 
as that of her true objects, requires that she should not stop 
with this, but should, in addition, adopt the means for the 
direct religious culture of the young, and their embrace- 
ment, as far as may be, within the fold of Grod. 

Indeed, no Church organization, however efficient and suc- 
cessful in some departments, can be said to embrace all the 
functions of a true and properly constituted Church, which 
does not afford specific provision for the religious culture of 
the young. If, while under all the disabilities of protracted 
rebellion, of inveterate vicious habit, and matured sinful pro- 
pensity, the adult class is to be sought out everywhere as 
the objects of Christian solicitude and care, surely the young, 
who sustain to us the relation of dependence, whose moral 
condition justifies the expectation of far greater succces in 
efforts to elevate and save them, should be specially embraced, 
as even the most important class to be provided for in the 
great scheme of Church aggression. Are the souls of youth, 
as youth, less valuable than those of mature men ? Is the 
kingdom of Christ — the great plan of human redemption — 
less concerned about the young than the old ? How, then, 
can a Church, which restricts her energies to the adult por- 



84 PROGRESS. 

tion of the human family, leaving the young, embracing, as 
they do, so large a portion of human society, unaddressed and 
unprovided for as to any agencies of directly religious intent, 
claim to meet all its requirements to fulfill even its highest 
functions ? 

The experience of the Church and any just consideration 
of the relations of mind and character to the gospel system 
abundantly show that Christian effort among the young is 
everywhere most successful ; and so far forth, consequently, 
as onward progress in the empire of Christianity is desirable, 
and to be looked to in the operations of the Christian Church, 
the youth of the land must be specially embraced among the 
prominent objects to which the aggressive energies of the 
Church are devoted. And if, as in some communities of our 
country, the ratio of the unconverted is so great as to claim a 
direction of energy mainly to the adult classes, yet there are 
many sections in which the field for expansion lies almost 
exclusively among the young. 

In many communities the number of those in mature life 
without the Church is comparatively so small, and those thus 
left, the consequence of their protracted resistance to the calls 
of the gospel, offer so little ground of hope of future repent- 
ance, that the period has arrived in those communities at 
which, for the enlargement of the Church, her attention must 
be given chiefly to the rising generation. Important, then, 
at all times and in all places, as is that function of the Church 
which looks to the religious wants of the young, the time has 
come in many sections when the Church will be shorn of her 
greatest glory — her aggressive capabilities — unless she arouses 
herself to more enlarged, more systematic, and more zealous 
efforts in behalf of the religious training of her youth. 

But if that function of the Church, which has for its ob- 
ject aggression, imperatively demands adequate provision for 
the religious training of the young, as one of the leading ob- 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 85 

jects of the Church, the same provision is no less demanded 
by that other function which looks to the elevation and im- 
provement of the Church itself. That instability and vacil- 
lation which has ruined many who began well, and furnished 
a captious, infidel world so much occasion of unjust, abusive 
remark — that ignorance and error, which now so much repress 
the energies of the Church, and so often exhibit themselves 
disastrously in the moral aspects of society — that prevailing 
want of such enlargement and enlightenment of view as is 
necessary to the manifestation in all ranks of the Church of 
the highest style of Christianity — will ever remain character- 
istics of the Christian Church, until the period shall have 
arrived in which it is mainly constituted of those who, from 
earliest childhood having been the objects of Church instruc- 
tion in youth submitted themselves to Grod and his cause. 
A thoughtful examination will disclose that most of the short- 
comings and positive defects which are to be observed as ex- 
isting generally, or in particular cases, in the Christian Church, 
whether as pertaining to opinion or practice, results from the 
fact, that the Church, as at present constituted, is chiefly com- 
posed of those who in youth were not afforded the needful 
facilities for religious instruction. In the nature of things, 
the Christian Church can never become adequately enlightened, 
thoroughly pure, and commensurate in her labors and enter- 
prise with the full measure of her responsibilities, until her 
members are mostly those who, from early life, as the result 
of thorough religious training, have given themselves to the 
cause of Grod. The early indoctrination of the mind into 
religious truth — the early imbuement of the heart with reli- 
gious tastes and spirit — the auxiliaries of habit and culture 
established in the morning of life — the freedom of the life 
from any experience of the corrupting, blighting influence of 
guilt — are indispensable to constitute a membership tho- 
roughly enlightened, and consequently with principles so estab- 



$6 PROGRESS. 

listed and abiding as to secure an obedience spontaneous and 
universal in every department of Christian obligation. 

Such being the relation sustained by the great subject of 
the religious training of youth to the proper growth of Chris- 
tianity in individuals and society, there never has been a time 
when that subject had a greater practical importance, and 
deserved in higher degree the consideration of the friends of 
the gospel. 

There may have been a time when, from the difficulties 
which environed the Church, it was enough that the mere 
rudiments of Christianity were maintained in the heart — 
when it was enough that in matters of the Church the mere 
outlines of a full Christian life could be traced — when the ideas 
of improvement and elevation were lost in those of aggression 
and diffusion ; but such in our times have been the conquests 
of Christianity, and such the variety of interests and respon- 
sibilities which the proper maintenance and care of those in- 
volved — such have been the spread of intelligence and the 
demands for a higher standard of rectitude — that now, as well 
that the Church may be able to avail herself of her ad- 
vantages to push forward her victories, as that she may be 
able to maintain before the world that position of purity, and 
knowledge, and zeal, necessary to protect her from reproach, 
and to secure her the enjoyment of her rightful power, the 
great work is rather that of self-improvement, a development 
of the various elements of subjective Christianity which ex- 
hibit themselves in consistent life, enlarged and liberal spirit, 
and works of constant enterprising usefulness — results which, 
in the nature of things, can never be realized, until the 
Church is constituted of those in whom the principles were 
broadly laid in the season of youth. 

The practicability of successful effort in conferring benefit 
in the season of youth, through a system of religious instruc- 
tion, should settle the question of the duty of the Church to 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 0-< 

provide amply and liberally such instruction. They are in 
our niidst, and dependent upon us : they are soon to take our 
places on the great theatre of public action, and the fortunes 
of the Church are then to be placed in their hands. Every 
consideration of love for our posterity, of philanthropy and of 
patriotism — every motive of love to our Saviour and gratitude 
to Grod — urge us to make them, from the earliest moment, 
the objects of special religious effort, and to adjust the great 
system of our operations with specific reference to their reli- 
gious care. 

The world may urge, as it sometimes does, the propriety of 
leaving youth free from religious bias, that in mature years 
they may be untrammelled in their decisions upon religious 
truth ; but the Christian Church, which appreciates the haz- 
ard of such abandonment in so impressible a season, which 
estimates the value of immortal souls, and intelligently regards 
the future fortunes of the Church, can be influenced by no 
such cowardly, infidel spirit. 

But if the religious training of the young is thus a proper 
function of the Church, it is the Sunday-school system which 
constitutes the grand machinery by which it is executed. 
Parents and individuals generally may do much on their own 
responsibility to further these ends, and incidentally all the 
various instrumentalities of the gospel may be made to con- 
tribute to them. Indeed, through these agencies alone, re- 
sults of good in behalf of the rising generation may be 
achieved, of which the Church thus far has had no adequate 
conception, but to which, for the full occupancy of her sphere 
of action, it becomes her to be awakened. But, still, it is in 
the Sabbath-school system that the Church, as such, finds her 
leading agency for impressing herself upon the rising gen- 
eration. 

The various advantages which this system secures are briefly 
these : 



88 PROGRESS. 

1. It brings the youth of the country from the earliest 
practicable moment into direct and intimate association with 
the Church — encompasses them within her pale, and identifies 
them with her arrangements and operations. How effectual 
the means to shut out the corrupting influences of the world 
— to forestall sinful control and pollution, and to preoccupy 
the young mind with ideas and tastes in harmony with the 
Church, and congenial with the spirit of Christianity. These 
are circumstances in which the soil of the mind receives its 
most favorable adaptation to the future growth of Christianity 
— in which nature itself is divested of its chiefest antagon- 
isms to godliness, and is moulded to its nearest possible ap- 
proximation to the scheme of piety. 

2. It engages the wisdom and energies of the Church in 
the indoctrination of the youthful mind in religious truth, and 
the storing of it with religious ideas by direct effort — by the 
circulation of a literature suitable to their years and wants — by 
personal example and influence, by which they are saved from 
the damaging effect of error, and are established in their ac- 
ceptance of the truth of the Bible, and by which a ground- 
work is laid for the play of the saving forces of the gospel, 
and qualifications are secured for a piety in future enlightened 
and consistent. 

3. It brings the youth of the country into personal religious 
relations with the older, in consequence of which the latter 
give more attention to them, and feel a deeper interest in 
them, and are more constantly prompted to provide the means 
and to employ the effort necessary to promote their welfare 
and save their souls. How much is gained toward the right 
rearing of youth by a system which thus enlists the wise and 
the good in their behalf, and how much more when that sys- 
tem awakens in that class a personal interest in behalf of them 
individually, which finds its suitable gratification in constant 
disinterested efforts to further their highest interests. 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 89 

4. It constitutes a system by means of which the efforts of 
the Church in behalf of the young may be most advanta- 
geously combined and concentrated, and by which, too, those 
efforts in that combined and concentrated state may be dif- 
fused throughout her entire limits. Organization, system, 
plan, is essential to give efficiency to the energies of the 
Church in behalf of any distinct interest, and the Sunday- 
school supplies this desideratum in respect of the religious 
culture of youth, in every aspect which the entire subject 
presents. 

The success which has attended the Sunday-school cause 
abundantly demonstrates its efficiency as the grand instru- 
mentality by which the Church is to fulfill her obligations to 
the rising generation. There are many influential and flour- 
ishing denominations in our country which are indebted, 
almost exclusively, for the accessions that sustain and enlarge 
them, to the machinery of their Sunday-schools, And in 
the Methodist Church, so much is revival influence indebted 
to this agency, even under the very partial limit in which it 
has yet been employed, so large is the proportion of the 
accessions to the Church that come from the ranks of the 
Sunday-school, as to bring experience to the confirmation of 
theory, that Sunday-school instruction, judiciously conducted, 
is but a preparatory process to bring its subjects everywhere 
within the saving influences of the ministry, and that the 
transition from the Sunday-school into the Church, under 
any system of aggressive operations, wisely adjusted and 
complete, is a result sure and inevitable. 

A groundwork of religious knowledge, broadly and deeply 
laid in the season of youth, by means of the Sunday-school 
system, presents such opening for the access of gospel agen- 
cies as almost invariably secures, however untoward the 
future circumstances, an eventual submission to the rule of 
Christ; and for the most part the most enlightened, con- 



90 PROGRESS. 

sistent, and uniform Christians of our day, are those who 
in early life enjoyed the instructions of the Sunday-school. 

It is evident, therefore, that commensurate with the 
strength of the reasons which impell the Church to the reli- 
gious instruction of the young, are the obligations to develop 
in fullest proportions and in wise adjustment the Sunday- 
school enterprise. The question, then, naturally arises, has 
the Church expanded this system so as to make its operations 
coextensive with the youth dependent upon her? Are all 
the youth, accessible to Methodist effort, embraced within 
the sphere of Sunday-school enterprise ? If so, our Church 
is faithfully fulfilling this important function. If not, her 
great mission is but partially regarded, and somewhere there 
rests a most solemn responsibility. 

Again, if it is true that the young sustain so important a 
relation to a system of religious instruction, then it is not 
enough that those children be embraced in it whose parents 
and immediate friends themselves, on their own responsibility, 
provide it ; but, by all the obligations of usefulness, it is the 
business of the Church to contribute the money and, if neces- 
sary, other means to promote the religious interests of the 
young in destitute sections, as an integral part of that grand 
system of missionary operations by which the gospel is dif- 
fused and the world converted. And it constitutes a leading 
recommendation of the Sunday-school system, and a strong 
reason of its fitness as an important instrumentality by which 
the Church impresses herself upon and fulfills her duties to 
the young, that it is an agency so well adapted to the accom- 
plishment of this extended sphere of benevolent results. 

No principle is more incontestable than that the Church is 
bound to assume every function of usefulness which any de- 
velopment of her capabilities will make practicable. This 
follows from the very nature of Christianity, which is that of 
aggressive usefulness — from the spirit of the gospel itself, 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 91 

which is that of benevolence, and from a predominant design 
of the Church's institution, which was organized with a view 
to the widest and most comprehensive effort for the further- 
ance of every object having a bearing upon the interests and 
progress of the gospel. Of course, then, if by the religious 
culture of the young, their religious interests are furthered, 
and, by consequence, the cause of God itself, it is not enough 
that those children who are in certain favored circumstances 
should be provided with the advantages of Christian instruc- 
tion, but all children, wherever found within the limits of her 
possible effort, occupy such relations of dependence to the 
Church as to require, that she may fulfill her entire obligations, 
a provision for them of the same advantages. 

Indeed, such are the results of religious training, through 
the Sabbath-school, that in all destitute sections, the most 
effectual method, considered with reference to ultimate effects 
to extend the gospel, is to prosecute with zeal and energy the 
Sunday-school enterprise among the young, and by all the 
obligations to missionary effort, therefore, by all the consid- 
erations which urge to the extension of the system of the 
Church itself, and the general diffusion of Christianity, is the 
Church impelled to the extension of the Sunday-school 
system in every section, within her limits, where the young 
are to be found. We send our ministers as missionaries in 
destitute sections, and feel bound to occupy through mis- 
sionary enterprise the entire field within our territorial limits; 
but these, addressing their energies to the adult classes, who, 
ignorant of the rudiments of Christianity, and confirmed in 
habits of sin, are well-nigh impervious to gospel influences, 
but little success is had for the most part in comparison with 
the expenditure of labor and means. Were these same 
communities approached through a different line of attack, 
and instead of exhausting energy upon these adult classes 
mainly, suitable and systematic efforts were made to organize 



92 PROGRESS. 

the children of these communities under the general Sunday, 
school system, by which they could be regularly indoctrinated 
into religious truth, and prepared for the reception of the 
saving influences of the gospel, vastly different would be the 
results which would follow the missionary operations of the 
Church. Time would be required, it is true, for the exhibi- 
tion of these results in completest form, but when fully 
realized we should see communities all transformed, the 
character of their people, religious, intellectual, and industrial 
improved, the institutions of Christianity established in vigor- 
ous maturity, and enterprise and thrift everywhere pervading 
their entire limits. 

There are, perhaps, in all communities, however highly 
favored religiously, certain sections dark and degraded, in 
which Christianity, whatever its success around, has made but 
little inroad. These are generally made up, as to the adult 
classes, of those who from ignorance, low vices, and un- 
towardness of circumstances, are almost beyond the reach of 
the ministry ; and, in those cases which are not, are to a 
large extent incapable of high moral transformation through 
the ordinary instrumentalities of the pulpit. The very fact 
that they have remained stationary amidst surrounding light 
and privilege proves the fixedness of their moral debasement, 
and their insensibility to the ordinary influences of the 
ministry. But these communities have children. Could 
these not yet subjected to the dominion of the vices of their 
fathers, but susceptible of the enlightenment of knowledge 
and of the impressions of religion, be gathered by the bene- 
volent exertion of other more favored communities, under a 
system of Sunday-school instruction, these communities 
might be effectually reached. Such a course, vigorously pro- 
secuted, would soon open an effectual door to the saving 
operations of the gospel — revivals of religion would spring up 
among these Sunday-school beneficiaries, and under circum- 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 93 

stances the best calculated to embrace within them even the 
adult classes. But even if these latter still remained imper- 
vious to the gospel, so diffused would be the elements of truth 
and virtue among the rising generation, that, when their 
fathers had passed away, and they had taken their places on 
the great theatre of action, then would these communities 
assume an aspect in striking contrast with their former de- 
gradation. The cultivation thus received by the youth would 
sooner or later show itself in the presentation everywhere 
of a higher standard of intellectual, moral, and social char- 
acter ; and these same communities, before so debased, would 
soon attain a common level in all the higher interests of 
civilization with the most advanced. In relation to such 
communities, it may be safely said that no process for their 
moral elevation can be successful which does not thus begin 
with the rising generation • and by all the obligations under 
which the Church is to promote the religious weal of men, 
and especially of those encompassed within her own territo- 
rial limits, and by all the restraints which the existence of 
these degraded spots in her midst impose upon the energies 
of the Church, and by all the increase of aggressive power 
which would be gained by their subjugation to Christianity 
and participancy in the positive movements of the Church, is 
the Church bound to occupy all these fields by an active, 
energetic system of Sunday-school operations. 

But the Sunday-school system generally, and especially in 
its relations to destitute neighborhoods, is recommended, not 
only by its direct tendency to multiply the subjects of Chris- 
tianity, but likewise by its happy reflex influence upon all 
who are engaged in its promotion. In respect of its financial 
feature, it furnishes a wide field for the cultivation of the 
benevolence and liberality of the Church. Children of every 
class, and especially of the Restitute and unfortunate, have a 
wonderful hold upon the sympathies of men. And an in- 



94 PROGRESS. 

terest of this kind, in which children are immediately in- 
volved, when suitably conducted and presented, will be a 
standing appeal to the liberality of the Church, better cal- 
culated to insure success, and thereby to educate the mem- 
bership to the right standard of charity, and to enlarge and 
extend their views generally as to their relations- to the 
general objects of benevolence than almost any other within 
the entire range of the Church's operations. But in respect 
of those directly engaged in the department of management 
and instruction, its effect would be one of great blessing. In 
the nature of God's own economy, no one can engage with a 
single eye in a work of this kind, so disinterested and replete 
with good to others, without sharing in its prosecution a bless- 
ing from heaven. The exercises of the Sunday-school are 
religious exercises. And the entire business is conducted 
with such reference and under such circumstances as to make 
it to the teacher, with every recurrence of it, a positive means 
of grace. The prayer and praise necessarily connected with 
and incident to it — the contact of the mind with the im- 
portant lessons of religious truth involved — the kindly feel- 
ings of sympathy and affection and disinterested zeal enlisted 
— the consciousness of doing something by positive intention 
for the promotion of God's cause — all tend to the enliven- 
ment of religious emotion, to an increase of religious affection 
and knowledge in those engaged as teachers. 

Indeed, the very scheme itself of the Sabbath-school, when 
extended to embrace every community, involves so much of 
benevolence, of enlargement of view, such clear apprehension 
of the true ends of Church organization, that in every way, 
to all who are engaged in it, from the Church herself,in her 
organic capacity, which plans and manages it, down to the 
humblest teacher of its most elementary departments, its wise 
and vigorous prosecution, commensurate with the wide sphere 
of demand, cannot fail to be an incalculable blessing. 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 95 

This extension of the Sunday-school system, while it will 
accomplish these high religious purposes, will at the same 
time secure to it the facilities needed to render it, as before 
stated, an efficient instrumentality in the diffusion of the ele- 
ments of literary education among the beneficiary classes. So 
that, in proportion to its fitness, in this respect, to accomplish 
one class of objects, it is rendered capable of being made the 
agent for the accomplishment of the other. 

The widest extension of this system, therefore, is not only 
the duty but the interest of the Church, being attended by 
consequences in every sense favorable to her prosperity. 

The question then recurs, Has the Methodist Church seen 
to it that her Sunday-school system has embraced within it all 
the children accessible to its effort ? It is here that the test 
is furnished, by which she may determine the extent of her 
compliance with her obligations to the rising generation. 

There can be no doubt, that within recent years there has 
been a very considerable awakening to this great interest in 
the Methodist Episcopal Church ; and now, in not a few sec- 
tions of this wide-spread connection, a degree of attention is 
turned to it which indicates a course of rapid improvement. 
But still, whatever in this department may have been accom- 
plished, the general statistics of the Church, or, in the absence 
of these, the facts which lie within the compass of every man's 
observation, will show that, as a Church, we can claim no 
distinction as yet on the ground of superior devotion to the 
religious interests of the young. 

The notion that the pulpit is almost the only agency in 
the promotion of the great interests of Christianity, under 
which our Church set out, and in accordance with which her 
system was arranged, has greatly retarded the growth of pro- 
per ideas of the Sunday-school, and the adjustment of our 
ecclesiastical system, with reference to its promotion. The 
habit of immediate success has disqualified our ministry for 



96 PROGRESS. 

the slow, systematic operations of the Sunday-school, and, 
with the pulpit as a medium of access, a spirit of impatience 
has too much rejected all other instrumentalities. Until our 
Church abandons this restricted system, and, comprehending 
the entire range of her legitimate operations, adjusts herself 
in the use of every variety of subordinate agency which pro- 
mises usefulness, she will never be able to fulfil her obliga- 
tions to the rising generation. 

But how are these results to be accomplished ? How is 
the Church to adjust herself to the Sabbath-school interest ? 
Or, to change the form of inquiry, by what means is the 
Church to develop fully her Sabbath-school function ? 

Under any plan that might be adopted to accomplish these 
ends, there are two things which we hold to be indispensable 
as preliminary. 

First : The provision of a literature suitable to the young, 
on a scale commensurate with the number of the young and 
their entire wants. We refer not now to the circulation of 
this literature, but to the getting it up, and the actual being 
of it, under such circumstances as to render it practically 
attainable. It is this which constitutes the great instrument, 
in the use of which the Sunday-school becomes the chief 
agency through which the Church fulfills her duty to the 
young, and without which, all her efforts in this department, 
whether in the form of Sunday-schools or otherwise, are 
wholly inadequate and inefficient. It is one of the most 
favorable indications now presented by our Church, that, for 
the first time in her history, she is beginning to furnish this 
literature for the young on a scale correspondent with exist- 
ing wants ; and we believe that, under its present excellent 
management, if the proper efforts are made for the comple- 
tion of the various other features of the Sunday-school sys- 
tem, every element will be embraced needed for the speedy 
advancement of this agency to its proper position of extended 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 97 

usefulness. In addition to the many suitable books and tracts 
now being furnished, and which will continue to be furnished 
as the growing wants of the Sunday-school demand, the Sun- 
day-school Visitor, designed especially to advance the reli- 
gious interests of the young, is a periodical of highest merit, 
and must itself constitute, wherever it circulates > a powerful 
auxiliary in the fulfillment of the Church's obligation to hei 
young. 

Second : The arrangement of Sunday-school houses, with 
such reference to comfort as to make the continuance of these 
schools through all seasons of the year practicable. In the 
nature of things, it is utterly impossible, however well ar- 
ranged and complete the plan in all other respects, to main- 
tain, or even to extend, Sunday-school machinery over all the 
neighborhoods of the land, much less to conduct it with 
vigor and fullest success, when necessarily it is suspended in 
respect of almost the entire country during several months of 
the year. But how can this be avoided, when most of the 
country houses in which these schools are held, are so incom- 
plete as to allow no means of comfort in inclement seasons. 
In our towns and cities, where these houses are suitably pro- 
vided, the schools are continued through all seasons, and 
there the Sunday-school enterprise prospers : indeed, there 
only do we see an exhibition of it any thing like adapted to 
the wants of the young. This condition of the country 
houses has greatly tended to hinder and repress Sunday- 
school enterprise in the Methodist Church ; and until altered 
by improvements which will allow of the continuance of these 
schools through all seasons, the Sunday-school system, how- 
ever much it may be facilitated in all its other interests, can 
never be brought into use on that ample scale demanded by 
its own capabilities of usefulness and the responsibilities of 
the Church. 

With these preliminary conditions settled, we come now to 
5 



98 PROGRESS. 

the machinery necessary to the right development of the Sun- 
day-school system. 

Now, the country, in its relation to Sunday-schools, as we 
have already seen, may be considered as made up of two 
classes of communities or neighborhoods. First, those which 
may be regarded as Christian, having in themselves all the 
elements or resources necessary to the Sunday school ; and, 
second, those that are unchristian or destitute, in which, for 
the formation and maintenance of Sunday-schools, some of 
the required elements must come from abroad. By these 
are meant those dark sections which are to be found occa- 
sionally in the most improved districts of the country, to- 
gether with those communities now embraced within the 
missionary fields of the Church. 

Now, in reference to this first class of communities, all 
that is necessary to secure among them the development and 
maintenance of the Sunday-school interest, is just so much 
machinery as will turn their attention to, and keep it awak- 
ened in behalf of this interest, and as will lead the way to the 
right combination and cooperation of the elements existing. 
They need light to awaken attention, to stimulate motive, 
and then a plan suitable to organize and perpetuate efficient 
operations. With advantages such as these, in communities 
in whom the groundwork of Christianity is already laid, the 
obligations of effort in behalf of the religious interests of their 
children are too easily apprehended, and the happy results of 
Sunday-schools, when once begun, are too easily seen to re- 
quire any thing further to secure their successful promotion. 

But to provide this aid, thus demanded by these advanced 
communities, the formation of Annual Conference Sunday- 
school Societies or Unions is an important step. The statis- 
tics they collect, the annual reports they send forth, and the 
facilities they provide of access to suitable books, all tend 
to awaken the attention and to enkindle the zeal of the Church 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 99 

generally in behalf of this interest. But, in addition to this 
general effect, by means of their annual celebrations, and the 
agencies then employed, the preachers themselves are enlight- 
ened and stimulated, and stronger motives are derived to 
activity and enterprise throughout their various fields of labor. 
But these Conference Unions must not rely upon these 
indirect influences, as important and favorable as they are. 
Something more is required to insure the perfect unfolding 
of the system. Let it be a feature, that each preacher shall 
gather the people together, and lecture them in reference to 
this interest ; that where schools do not exist, he shall, in meet- 
ings called expressly for the purpose, have superintendents and 
teachers appointed, it being his business to see persons indi- 
vidually, if necessary, to induce them to engage as teachers ; 
that he shall himself call upon such parents as are indifferent 
or reluctant, and, by persuasion and the exercise of personal 
influence, induce them to unite in these schools; that he 
shall, if necessary, make collections and suggest the method, 
and, if necessary, assume the business himself, of obtaining 
the books needed for the prosecution of the enterprise ; that, 
if possible, he be present at the organization of these schools, 
and at all events be frequently present during their exercises, 
and, by identifying himself with them, become a general 
counsellor and director of their interests, and infuse an ani- 
mating zeal in every mind and throughout their various de- 
partments. And to insure the performance of these duties 
by the preacher, let the Quarterly Conference have so much 
jurisdiction over the whole subject, as to make it the duty of 
the preacher to report to it each quarter what he has done in 
the discharge of these duties, and as will authorize it to 
cooperate in its own action with him in furtherance of these 
his specific duties. In addition, let it be the duty of Presid- 
ing Elders to examine, particularly during each quarterly 
visit, into the acts of the preacher, in respect of this inte~ 



100 PROGRESS. 

rest — not in a general sense, but specifically; and let the 
Annual Conference, in the examination of character, inquire 
particularly as to the manner in which these duties are per- 
formed \ or, rather, let the Annual Conference, assembled in 
the capacity of a Sunday-school Society, taking a day, or as 
much time as may be necessary for this purpose and others 
connected with the Sunday-school, inquire of every preacher 
as to the manner of his discharge of these duties, and hold 
each one strictly amenable for any neglect, as they would for 
the neglect of any of the more immediate duties connected 
with the ministration of the Word. Now, the faithful per- 
formance of ministerial duty, thus secured, would insure the. 
existence and prosperity of these schools in all the various 
religious communities. For it would provide them, first, 
with the necessary light to awaken their attention and zeal ; 
and, second, the necessary plan to secure general concert and 
cooperation in the actual organization and conduct of these 
schools. 

Now, something like this plan has been adopted already 
by some of the preachers, and examination will show that 
such preachers are the most efficient men in Sunday-school 
operations — indeed, that for what has already been actually 
achieved, the Church is indebted almost exclusively to them. 
But what the Church needs, for the full development of the 
Sunday-school interest, is some general system of the kind 
specified, which will enlist all the preachers in every field of 
labor, and make such attention to the Sunday-school cause an 
integral part of the preachers' operations in every station and 
circuit within the Church's jurisdiction. Such a system, 
once adopted, has all the elements of its own perpetuity. 
The cooperation which it involves, precluding the indications 
of indifference and neglect, now so discouraging to the most 
zealous, would animate every individual interested, and the 
results o f good so rapidly achieved would vindicate the glory 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 101 

of the enterprise, and infuse throughout the entire mass of 
the Church constantly increasing motives to the most active 
exertions. 

The second class of the communities of which the country, 
considered in its relation to Sabbath-schools, is composed, as 
before stated, is made up of two sub-classes. First, those 
destitute communities which are found here and there as dark 
spots in the midst of better society, and which are embraced 
within the limits of circuits and stations already formed ; and, 
second, those general communities which, destitute in every 
part of them of the elements necessary to constitute them 
self-supporting, are occupied by the Church as missionary 
fields. 

Now, in reference to both these sub-classes, the foreign ele- 
ments needed to secure an extension of the Sunday-school 
system in their midst, are teachers and money to provide 
suitable books. How, now, are these to be provided ? As 
the relation of proximity to this foreign aid requisite differs 
in respect of these two sub-classes, the method by which this 
aid must be provided is likewise different. 

In reference to this first sub-class, the number embraced 
within the limits of the different circuits and stations varies ; 
but, in general, after the plan which we have specified for 
the various religious neighborhoods has been, by faithful 
execution, fully developed, the number of these communities 
then left unprovided with Sunday-school privileges would 
be but few. For so evident would the benefits be to all — so 
general and decided would be the enthusiasm awakened — 
that the system itself would have a tendency to propagate 
itself that would in the end make many a community, now 
regarded, from its own destitution, as indifferent, the spon- 
taneous providers of its own Sunday-school privileges. But 
still, after all these means had exhausted themselves, there 
would, doubtless, yet be in many of our circuit fields some 



102 PROGRESS. 

dark spots for whom the resources of the Sunday-school, if 
provided at all, must come from without. 

We have before specified the manner in which the literary 
education of this class is to be provided for, through the 
agency of subordinate educational Unions, established in each 
circuit and station. Now, let these same agencies take the 
business of providing the Sunday-school for these communi- 
ties, and inasmuch as the Sunday-school may, as we have 
shown, in the absence of other means, be used as an instru- 
ment for the diffusion of elementary literary education j since 
this class, thus requiring benevolent aid to enjoy Sunday- 
school privileges, is the same class requiring like aid to enjoy 
Common-school education, there would be, by this arrange- 
ment, that fortunate conjuncture which at once vindicates its 
propriety, and gives to it the character of a complete system 
for the accomplishment of the entire sphere of benevolent 
educational enterprise for the young, both literary and reli- 
gious. 

Let it be the business of these Unions to ascertain the 
number of these destitute neighborhoods, and to provide 
teachers for them. The week-day schools, which they may 
have established, will serve as a basis for the Sunday-school, 
and the teachers in them may be likewise employed in the 
Sunday-school. But as Sunday-school teaching is so obvi- 
ously a benevolent and useful employment, it will not be diffi- 
cult to enlist in it, in the various neighborhoods convenient 
to the destitute, such a number as may be required for the 
successful prosecution of the enterprise. Let it be the busi- 
ness of these Unions, in conjunction with the preachers, to 
engage these teachers, and, by a vigorous system of exertion 
and oversight, to see to it that at least all the children acces- 
sible to Methodist effort enjoy these privileges. There might 
be visitors appointed to attend, at stated periods, these schools, 
that, by their presence and counsel, and, if need be, addresses, 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 103 

parents, and children, and teachers, all might be stimulated 
and encouraged. Celebrations, too, might be provided, of 
either single schools, or schools in combination, in which, by 
the use of suitable machinery, the Sunday-school cause might 
be promoted. 

To raise the funds necessary to supply the books needed, 
the plan already adopted by some of the conference societies 
of appropriating a specified portion of the general collections 
to this object, is the most feasible. Several advantages are 
gained by this plan. First it obviates that inequality which 
would otherwise exist in the amount of claim upon the indi- 
viduals of the several stations or circuits to supply thedestitute. 
Second, by making its destitute section dependent upon the 
general fund it insures to all help. Third, by this general 
spread of the benevolence of the Church, her views, especially 
in relation to the Sunday-school cause, are expanded, and the 
characteristics of the Church are elevated and improved. But 
if this pro rata distribution of the general fund thus raised 
be in certain sections inadequate, there is, in most commu- 
nities, liberality enough if combined and concentrated by 
means of these Unions and the preachers, whose zeal is sup- 
posed to be properly kept alive by the annual conferences to 
which they are amenable, to insure to every dark region 
within their limits every facility needed to the full enjoyment 
of Sunday-school instruction. These Unions themselves 
might keep depositories of books, from which, with the funds 
thus obtained, they could, under their own supervision and 
direction, supply these beneficiary Sunday-schools as they 
needed. 

The second sub-class of communities, viz., those now oc- 
cupied as mission fields without such immediate proximity to 
those more advanced, and covering a wider extent of territory, 
are incapable of subjection to such a complete system of 
oversight and personal aid for the extension over them of 



104 PROGRESS. 

Sunday-school machinery : still, much may be done to supply 
them with the^necessary resources, and to secure the desired 
result. Here the responsibilities of the enterprise, to a large 
extent, necessarily rest upon the missionary. Instead of the 
notion now prevailing that his exclusive business is to preach, 
let him be charged, as an essential part of his mission, with 
the duty of instructing and securing the instruction by others 
of the children. This course is recommended, as we have 
seen, by the consideration that it is the best of all others cal- 
culated to the attainment of his principal object, the evan-^ 
gelization of the people. To effect this, let him organize the 
children within the range of his several appointments, as far 
as practicable, through suitable efforts among the parents, into 
Sunday-schools, and if it be impossible to obtain the coope- 
ration of others as teachers, let himself become the teacher. 
But, generally, he himself need not be alone in this divinely- 
appointed business. In every place, perhaps, where the peo- 
ple are willing to receive the missionary at all, his own proper 
zeal, wisely directed, might enlist the requisite number effi. 
ciently to conduct under his own guidance the exercises of 
the school. And if they could not be found or made avail- 
able at first, his own example of disinterested devotion, ano. 
the happy effects soon visible among the young, that clas? 
appealing most to the sympathies of the people, would not 
fail soon to enlist the cooperation of others, in sufficient num- 
bers to meet pressing wants. Revivals of religion would 
soon occur in the schools, and these latter themselves, there- 
fore, would soon furnish the necessary supplies for their own 
independent management. Our missionaries, for the most 
part, have pursued a mistaken policy in respect of the great 
object before them. They have relied too much upon the 
mere pulpit, while in fact the Sunday-school is their true 
weapon for availability and success. It is a mistake to sup- 
pose that in missionary fields, Sunday-schools, by reason of 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 105 

the absence of important elements, are impracticable. The 
preacher has within himself all the resources necessary to the 
development of the Sunday-school system among any people 
who will receive him, and patience and wisdom, with due re- 
liance upon the divine authority, will enable him to give such 
practical efficiency to this system as to constitute it, after all, 
the most successful of all agencies for the real elevation and 
salvation of those he serves. 

The enterprise of the Church which aims at the general 
diffusion of the elements of literary education among the 
beneficiary class so entirely blends with that which aims at 
the universal extension of Sabbath-school instruction — indeed 
their interests are so identical — that in these mission com- 
munities, now referred to, the machinery employed to secure 
the former might be made specially available to secure the 
latter. 

The funds to supply the libraries must, as in the case of 
the other class of destitute communities, be furnished from 
the general Sunday-school collections. And here we per- 
ceive an important purpose to be subserved by these con- 
ference Sunday-school Unions. For, in addition to the fact 
that they assume the oversight of this interest throughout 
their entire limits, and provide for these general collections 
in which due reference to the claims of the destitute is 
had, they likewise constitute agencies for the ascertainment 
of every distinct destitute section, and for the distribution of 
the fund among all, according to the claims of equity and 
benevolence. It is, in short, a system adapted to ascertain 
what is wanted — to raise what is wanted — to distribute what 
is wanted. 

But to meet, if this plan of Sunday-school extension is 
effectually prosecuted, this heavy pecuniary demand coming 
up from these destitute communities, the Sunday-school col- 
lections must be largely increased. The indifference and 
5* 



106 PROGRESS. 

neglect with which this great interest, especially in its bene- 
volent features, has heretofore been regarded by the Methodist 
Church, have kept these collections down to the lowest stand- 
ard. Greater importance must be attached to them. By the 
diffusion of light and the adoption of right machinery, the 
people must be brought to feel their obligations in these 
premises, and to exercise in behalf of this interest a more 
enlightened liberality. Such means, wisely directed, will not 
fail to produce these results. The same causes operated for 
a long time with like effects in regard to the missionary col- 
lections. But the spread of light and the consequent awak- 
enment of public attention, has already resulted in an advance 
upon the past, commendable to the Church, and glorious in 
its consequences. The people have the means — the cause 
demands them — let light be given — let the ministry assume 
their rightful place of guides in the great work of educating 
the people, as to the claims and obligations involved in the 
scheme of the Sunday-school, and then shall a standard 
of Sunday-school collections, of adequate elevation, be 
reached, and with it every element of enterprise for the 
amplest unfolding everywhere of the functions of the Sunday- 
school. 

Thus will the system of education, literary and religious, 
for the rising generation, be complete, and the Church will 
have in it assumed that attitude towards this important class 
in which, while her own solemn obligations will be fully 
met, her fullest capabilities will be made available to compass 
the grand object aimed at, their subjection to the dominion 
of Grod. Such a system lacks nothing for its completeness 
and efficiency, for while it covers the entire field, providing 
for every variety of educational want, it contains in it such 
a union of elements as makes each tributary to the efficient 
action of all the rest, and as secures, in results harmonious 



THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION. 107 

and proportionate, every object of the entire educational 
function. 

With such an extended sphere of usefulness before her, 
shall not the Church adjust herself to its proper occupancy? 
It is time that she had abandoned her meagre, contracted 
notions of enterprise. She cannot tabernacle Jonger in her 
ancient forms. The objects which lie in this field she must 
appropriate : the youth of the country must be hers, or else 
under a different system of adjustment, evolved in the pro- 
gress of society, they must fall under other influences, by 
which they are alienated, and alienated, for the most part, 
forever. The forces of society are fast working out a felt 
necessity for universal education. With the Church there is 
now no longer any option : she must either content herself to 
see this mighty agency glide from her own hands and become 
an instrument of antagonism to her own action, and of over- 
throw to her objects, or else seize the happy juncture, now so 
auspiciously presented, to make it an integral part of her own 
system, and by its complete development, under her own 
direction, make it the glorious instrumentality for the enlarge- 
ment of her own power, and for the achievement of those 
results in which consists more than all else her real progress. 

For such enlargement of her scheme, no period has been 
so favorable. The time has been when Methodism, little 
and despised, and confined in its influence to the humbler 
ranks of society, was without power to maintain a system 
like this, so comprehensive as to compass the entire sphere 
of educational objects; but that time has passed away. Her 
rapid spread among all classes, and over the entire extent of 
our territorial limits — the efficient action of her forces so well 
adapted to aggression and to progress — has already attained for 
her such an elevation of social position, such a combination 
of all the elements of power, moral, intellectual, and mate- 
rial, that for no enterprise of usefulness is her strength now 



108 PROGRESS. 

inadequate, and for that glorious department of action, the 
education, literary and religious, of the people, she has now 
not only every necessary resource, hut in a degree, perhaps, 
more extended and ample than all other organizations. 

Why, then, not arouse herself, and expand her resources 
to the attainment of these glorious results ? Every . con- 
sideration of efficiency, of progress, and even of vitality itself, 
urges to it. The enterprise we have seen is practicable — 
promising results inspiring to every heart, and stimulating to 
the highest, boldest endeavors. We may not — indeed, we 
expect not — to bring out at once the entire scheme in all its 
proportions, and in its most successful execution. Great en- 
terprises are necessarily slow in their development. The very 
grandeur of the conception necessarily makes slow its practical 
exhibition and adjustment. But ours, by profession, is a life 
of faith ; and by appointment we are in an important sense 
the guardians of the future fortunes of the Church. It is 
ours to perceive the present, and by wise forecast to appre- 
hend its relations to the future, and setting in motion the 
schemes of usefulness, to leave whatever we may not be able 
to command for their completion, to the action of posterity, 
and the superintendence of a Providence that never dies. 
Upon us, therefore — upon us, of the present generation there 
rests in respect of this great department, a most solemn re- 
sponsibility. Let us prove ourselves adequate to it, and, by 
beginning at once, let us do what we can in our day and 
generation toward the right adjustment of the Church for 
the complete development of her educational function. 



SECTION III. 

THE LITERATURE FUNCTION. 

That expansion of the system of the Church which will 
render it as useful as the present state of society will enable 
it to become demands, still further, the development of its 
literature function. 

The pulpit, as a medium for the diffusion of religious infor- 
mation, can be brought to bear only at stated periods, with 
intervals of greater or less extent; and even if it could be 
employed more continuously, its appropriate topics are sus- 
ceptible of other modes of profitable treatment, and, though 
of the first importance, are necessarily so limited as to leave 
unoccupied many fields of knowledge essential to the Church's 
prosperity. 

The results of usefulness which a religious literature may 
be made to achieve, are many and most valuable. 

Religious truth, in whatever form, if circulated under the 
sanction of the Church, and, consequently, as an instrumen- 
tality for the maintenance and diffusion of Christianity, must, 
in virtue of Grod's own economy, be attended by favorable 
consequences. It is bread cast upon the waters, which may 
yet be found after many days. But when that truth is em- 
bodied in the form of literature, and is so ample as to embrace 
every department of Christian knowledge, and as to adapt 
itself to every variety of moral condition — when, indeed, it 
is so various as to go forth in this permanent form, address- 
ing every class of men, exhibiting under every aspect the 
wide contents of Christian revelation, and presenting every 
variety of information, of motive, and appeal, which the 
moral relations of men in their diversified conditions require, 

(109) 



110 PROGRESS. 

and so circulated as to spread itself in every section and 
among every family, then, indeed, does it become an auxiliary 
in the great work of human salvation and elevation, of the 
highest, most sacred value. 

What is it of religious light — what is it of religious motive, 
which men in every condition and circumstance may need, 
that a religious literature may not be made to combine, and, 
in a permanent form, circulate among all ranks of men ? 

Combining, as it may, so much of that truth specially 
adapted to the awakenment and conversion of the sinner, it 
is susceptible in itself, and especially in cooperation with the 
pulpit, of being rendered an important instrumentality of 
aggression. It is true, it does not present such matter as is 
likely to constitute the staple of the reading of this class of 
community : still, in a reading age, its extended circulation 
everywhere among those whose tastes are in nearer adaptation 
to it, connected and associated as these classes actually are, 
will not fail to give it, among this class, some degree of 
currency. The intimate relation of those among whom it freely 
circulates to the unconverted makes them purveyors of it for 
this class; and proximity and convenience of access will 
often cause books and papers to be read, which, if they had 
to be sought for, would fail to attract the slightest attention. 
But there is an aggressive power in the truth of the gospel, 
and these books thus read, assisted in many instances by the 
circumstances under which they are read, will often result in 
consequences saving to the soul. The pulpit has its own 
peculiar modes of attack, and often after these have been 
thus far tried in vain, these books, presenting as they do the 
truth in every connection and association calculated to fix 
attention and secure access, will prove themselves the instru- 
ment for the attainment of the desired result, the awaken- 
ment and conversion of the soul. The young, especially, will 
read this literature, and, impressible as they are, if they be 



THE LITERATURE FUNCTION. Ill 

not at once led by it to the embracenient of religion, they 
will derive from it a mass of religious ideas which, while they 
will increase the facilities, and, consequently, the chances of 
the future access of gospel instrumentalities, they will con- 
stitute so many additional advantages for the happiest 
exhibition of the Christian life. How many persons have 
received their first religious convictions in the reading of this 
literature. Within the observation, perhaps, of every man, 
there are some. But, if in the limited circulation of it thus 
far these results have not been rare, how numerous might 
we expect them to be under such a circulation of it as it is 
susceptible of, when this function shall have received its 
fullest development. Indeed, every thing read in this depart- 
ment by the irreligious is attended by favorable consequences. 
It leaves upon the mind some impression destined to exercise 
a favorable influence upon the fortunes of the soul. 

But, in reference not only to the unconverted, but more 
emphatically to the professing Christian, the circulation of re- 
ligious literature increases the means of access to the peculiar 
appliances of the pulpit, and furnishes for it a wider basis 
upon which to act. Every advance in knowledge among the 
people increases the power of the pulpit, and multiplies the 
chances of its saving results. As a harbinger of the pulpit, 
therefore, preparing the way of the Lord, it is an agency of 
the highest value. 

Such are the relations of men to the affairs of this world 
— so constant and pressing their connection with them, as to 
create in the Christian everywhere a constant liability to be 
overborne by them. It is this, indeed, that constitutes the 
warfare of the Christian — the prolific source of his chiefest 
trials and difficulties. It is the diffusion of religious ideas to 
such extent as to secure the constant occupancy of the mind 
with them, and the establishment of habits of religious think- 
ing, that constitutes the grand agency by which this worldly 



112 PROGRESS. 

tendency is to be restrained, and the ascendency of spiritual 
interests maintained. The character of men, in its religious 
relations, will always he determined by the prevailing cast of 
the mass of their active ideas. If these be secular, neces- 
sarily they will evolve a manner of life in harmony with 
them : if, on the other hand, these be religious, the result of 
a habitual conscious reference of the mind to religious objects, 
then, necessarily, the character will assume a religious mould, 
and the whole life a direction to religious ends. This prin- 
ciple is illustrated in the case of protracted meetings, and the 
revivals which ensue from them. In the ordinary round of 
pulpit ministrations, the opportunity of presenting the truth 
being single and occasional, most generally, if the mind is ar- 
rested on any one occasion so far as to admit the conscious 
entertainment of religious ideas, these are soon dissipated by 
the secular ideas with which the mind is already stored, but 
under the plan of serial meetings, following each other in 
rapid succession, the mind, when once arrested, is firmly held 
by the constant play of gospel forces in contact with religious 
truth, so that these ideas are constantly multiplied, until at 
last they become dominant and engrossing, when the effect 
manifests itself in the succumbing of the individual to their 
controlling influence. When revivals are in progress, the 
whole community are engrossed with religious ideas — the 
minds of all are prevailingly employed about the subjects of 
religion •> but when these extraordinary efforts, to which re- 
vivals under Grod are indebted, cease, the mind of community 
under the strong impulse of worldly connections, is prone to 
lapse under the dominion of the secular ideas to which it was 
formerly subjected, and just in proportion to this result will 
be the loss of religious fervor and the genuine characteristics 
of religious life. Fervent, zealous Christians are so by vir- 
tue of the constant employment of their intellects about spirit- 
ual subjects, and with spiritual reference — this the conscious- 



THE LITERATURE FUNCTION. 113 

ness of all such attest, and this they manifest by the readiness 
with which they converse upon these topics, and by their evi- 
dent congeniality and familiarity with them. 

It is because the pulpit, brought to bear as it may be in 
every precinct of community, in constantly recurring periods, 
and susceptible in every respect of systematic employment, 
has such happy adaptation to diffuse these ideas, and to main- 
tain the intellect everywhere in constant employment with 
them, that it was ordained of God as the chief instrumentality 
for the furtherance of the gospel among men. But a reli- 
gious literature, extensively circulated, would necessarily tend 
to accomplish the same object. Its office is to diffuse ideas — 
to enlighten and to entertain. In addition to the religious 
engagement of the mind, during the actual process of the 
reading, it necessarily, by the ideas with which it stores the 
mind, and the suggestions which it offers, furnishes the intel- 
lect with materials of thought and occupation, which will con- 
tribute largely to the religious character of the life. How 
powerfully auxiliary then must it be in this respect to the 
operations of the pulpit. Indeed, in an important particular 
it has superior advantages for efficiency ; for while this car- 
dinal instrumentality can only be brought to bear under spe- 
cific conditions and periodically, this is an instrumentality 
which may diffuse itself everywhere, and at all times — which, 
susceptible of domestic, and even individual appropriation, 
may be rendered indeed what no other instrumentality of 
human employment can be, ever acting, and yet universally 
acting. 

The reading propensity of the American people of this age 
is remarkable. It is confined to no class or condition of 
human life. All men, all ages, everywhere, read; and in 
this remarkable characteristic they are distinguished from all 
preceding ages, and, perhaps, from all other people. If re- 
ligious literature then may be rendered so powerful an in 



114 PROGRESS. 

strumentality in the spread and maintenance of the Christian 
cause, the Church, by availing herself to the fullest extent of 
this spirit to secure its widest possible circulation, would find 
in it an agency of progress worthy her highest regard. 

As elevated as is the standard of American civilization, 
and as numerous as are the agencies of religious light among 
the people, yet a thoughtful examination will show that the 
greatest drawback upon the piety of Christians is ignorance 
and error. If defects exhibit themselves in the religious life 
— if instability and inconsistency too often mark the Chris- 
tian profession — if actual relapses occur — if, in short, 
Christianity, as developed in the life, too often shows itself 
below the standard of the Bible, it is not so much the fruit 
of insincerity or hypocrisy, or intentional wrong, but rather 
of partial or erroneous views of the plan of salvation and of 
the moral law, in the details of its application to the practical 
affairs of life. While it is true that unavoidable ignorance 
will save men in a future world from the consequences of a 
failure to embrace the fundamental conditions of salvation, 
yet even ignorance of that kind will not save them from any 
other consequences which flow from it. Of course, then, 
where that ignorance is not unavoidable, its drawbacks or dis- 
advantages, whatever they may be, will all be experienced. 
This is a law of God's economy, not only as a punishment of 
sin, in which all ignorance has its origin, but as an incentive 
to its removal. It is not difficult to perceive in what manner 
mistaken or inadequate notions of the relations of the plan 
of salvation to the world — of the conditions of salvation — 
of Providence — of the relative obligations of men — of the 
moral law — or of any doctrine or duty, would impair Chris- 
tianity, whether as an element of experience or a rule of life. 
Error of opinion, misconception or ignorance, must, where 
truth is every thing in the production of right results, affect 



THE LITERATURE FUNCTION. 115 

those results, and while they exist, be an insuperable barrier 
to fullest success. 

Christianity in its conipletest expression, in the actual ex- 
emplification of its entire contents, is slow in its movements. 
Perhaps this was demanded to conform it, in this respect, to 
the great law of probation governing the entire moral state of 
man; or perhaps it was necessary in view of man's own 
agency in the work, and to conform it to the law of progress 
under which he moves. It may not be surprising therefore, 
that even in this day of Christian enlightenment, there should 
prevail among the Christian masses so much of error and 
ignorance, and of that practical inconsistency and wrong, of 
which they are in fact the real source : still, when we cast our 
eyes over the great mass of the Church, and consider the 
amount of damage inflicted upon Christians themselves, upon 
the honor and glory of Christianity itself, the depressing effect 
upon the energies of the Church and her expansive progressive 
capabilities, it is evident that the removal of this ignorance, 
and the correction of these errors, the prolific source of so 
much evil, ought to constitute a leading object of the most 
strenuous efforts of the Church. 

But to accomplish this high purpose, what agency could be 
more efficient and suitable than the circulation of books, of 
tracts, and church periodicals ? The pulpit itself ought to be 
extended in its functions, so as to embrace all these subjects 
upon which the masses need light. There can be no doubt 
that this instrumentality, in the Methodist Church especially, 
which started with those few fundamental ideas only in pro- 
minent relief with which salvation is immediately concerned, 
has restricted itself to too narrow a compass of subjects. 
Much of the narrowness of view which has been characteristic 
of Methodists, in respect of the functions of the Church and 
the social aspects of Christianity, is attributable to this radical 
defect in the management of the pulpit. The wants of the 



116 PROGRESS. 

times, and the openings furnished by the times, demand an 
enlargement of its functions. In this respect it has not kept 
pace with the progress of the age. It is, therefore, fast 
losing its power and prominence, as the grand instrument 
for upholding and advancing the interests of the Church. 
That it may enjoy those qualifications necessary to attract and 
to have access to all classes of men — that it may subserve 
the purpose designed of the grand instrumentality for the re- 
ligious instruction of the world, and attain the highest posi- 
tion of usefulness of which it is capable — it must extend the 
range of its subjects — it must be more practical in its selec- 
tion and treatment of topics — it must, in short, apprehend 
the entire sum of the wants of the people, and address itself 
directly to their adequate and suitable supply. 

But the pulpit, even if employed to the full extent of it* 
capabilities, would still be greatly aided in the work of re- 
moving ignorance and error by the circulation of religious 
literature. It is in books that the plan of salvation and all 
the various subjects which concern the Christian are fully 
treated. Through them, therefore, opportunities are afforded 
of enlarged as well as minute information upon all the topics 
of Christianity which the pulpit, from the nature of its con- 
ditions, is unable to afford ; and it is precisely such informa- 
tion that is wanted to remove the particular form of ignorance 
and error now most generally prevailing. Indeed, books and 
periodicals might be made to embrace every form of know- 
ledge required to meet existing wants, and to constitute a 
light adapted to the dissipation, everywhere, of every species 
of moral darkness. No one can doubt that such an agency 
of enlightenment, circulating everywhere and permeating the 
entire masses of the country, would powerfully contribute to 
the removal of ignorance, and the prevalence of truthful, en- 
lightened views throughout the entire ranks of the Church. 

But the extended circulation of religious literature would 



THE LITERATURE FUNCTION. 117 

not only secure this negative result, as important as it is, but 
would likewise tend to the positive improvement of the Church 
generally, in every element of enlightened progress. By 
means of the light and encouragement afforded through 
practical treatises, pointed, pungent appeals, biographies of 
the pious, and accounts of the triumphs of the gospel, 
how many a troubled spirit would be relieved — how many 
a doubting, desponding heart would be encouraged — how 
many that were ready to die, would revive and arouse 
themselves to renewed effort — how many that were dead 
would come to life again, and become useful laborers in 
the vineyard of the Lord ! There is, in religious knowledge, 
an enlivening, stimulating property. Time, spiritual know- 
ledge is an essential ingredient of religion. It expands the 
views of religious obligation, becomes the occasion of aliena- 
tion to the world and engrossment in religious objects, and, 
incorporated into the life, actualizes itself in religious growth 
and expansion. Oh, who can estimate the happy results of 
one good book broadly circulated among the people ? Who 
can estimate how much of good has been secured to the 
world by the circulation of religious literature ? What addi- 
tions it has made to the sum of human happiness — what 
additional strength and influence it has imparted to the aggres- 
sive forces of the gospel ! If all the additions to the triumphs 
of Christianity and the general cause of the gospel by means 
of religious books were abstracted from the grand total, how 
mournful would be the result ! But if this literature has in 
the past exhibited itself so powerful an instrumentality in the 
promotion of the Christian cause, what might it be if enlarged 
in its circulation to the full extent of which it is susceptible, 
and made to achieve the most extended results of which it 
is capable ? 

But there is another specific result which religious litera- 



118 PROGRESS. 

ture of the right kind may be made to effect, that is of the 
utmost importance to the weal of the Church. 

Such are the responsibilities of Christians, that it is not 
enough that they maintain, even in fullest proportions, all the 
elements of immediate personal piety, but there are objects 
of usefulness which lie without them, various in kind and 
magnitude, to the attainment of which they are committed as 
a necessary and integral part of all true Christian life. These 
are the various benevolent enterprises of which the Church 
may avail herself as so many agencies for the right unfold- 
ing and cultivation of her own graces, and for the extension 
of the Christian dominion. But such are the relations of 
the outward world to human thought, that all Church move- 
ment in behalf of these— of uniform life, and commensurate 
with the magnitude of the interests involved — must be based 
upon knowledge, upon an intelligent apprehension of those 
great first principles which underlie and determine the rela- 
tions of Christians to the rest of mankind. Until the mind 
of the Church has been so instructed as to be constantly held 
to these great interests, and as to have incorporated the ideas 
of their relations to them as constant elements of thought 
and principle, the Church herself never will be awakened to 
a proper apprehension of the entire field of her enterprise, or 
realize the conditions for its constant and universal occupancy. 
The benevolent enterprise of the Church has ever been partial, 
fitful, spasmodic, because it has been the product of sympathy 
and emotion, rather than of a just conception of the great 
principles which determine its necessity and importance. 
Restricting our attention to the interests of personal salvation 
as a Church, we have thus far overlooked and neglected those 
great elements of God's economy which bring out and indi- 
cate the full extent of our obligations to the world around us. 
These are parts of the great scheme of salvation which minis- 



THE LITERATURE FUNCTION. 119 

ters themselves too often fail to study, and which, conse- 
quently, they rarely explain and enforce in the exercises of 
the pulpit. But a period has arrived when the Church can 
no longer expand herself into increasing dimensions, or main- 
tain her present proportions, when she must be false to the 
high career of usefulness opened up before her, unless she 
establishes herself on those foundations of intelligence and 
principle which are her only divinely appointed life-giving 
supports. No mere superficial work of appeal — no mere 
transient enlistment of the sympathies — no mere artful trick 
or policy, can suffice to rear the fabric of world-wide and yet 
adequately comprehensive Church enterprise. If, then, the 
entire Church is to be aroused to cooperation in behalf of 
these great objects of usefulness — if, indeed, the Church is 
deficient in her enterprise until such cooperation is secured — 
it is not enough that a few of the most advanced and active 
have proper views upon these subjects, and that these adopt 
some system of machinery for the enlistment of the masses, 
(the policy hitherto, and on account of which the benevolent 
efforts of the Church, in respect of the numbers engaged, the 
zeal and wisdom employed, have come far short of the highest 
standard,) but the masses themselves must be enlightened as 
to these objects and their duties. They must themselves be 
educated in the principles of benevolence \ then will the mo- 
tives to action be spontaneous and not external in their origin, 
and every man finding in himself all the requisite impulse to 
action, the entire Church will press forward simultaneously 
and harmoniously in the work of the greatest and most ex- 
tensive good to the human family. It is this education of 
the masses, it is this universal diffusion of right knowledge, 
that the Church now needs to the proper development 
of the various departments of her benevolent enterprise; 
and until this grand result be realized, vain and futile 
are all her efforts to reach the high position of usefulness 



120 PROGRESS. 

to which her more enlightened and zealous friends would 
elevate her. 

But to secure the general spread of this knowledge, the 
diffusion of this information, thus the true source of benevo- 
lent enterprise among the masses, the circulation of books, of 
tracts, and of periodicals, is the most efficient instrumentality. 
Christian literature of any kind enlightens the mind, and en- 
larges and liberalizes the conceptions of usefulness; but by 
giving it a direction specifically to this end, and securing for 
it the entire circulation of which it is susceptible, it is evi- 
dent that these results may be produced in any degree deemed 
desirable. Every department of usefulness, of Church enter- 
prise, may have its own distinct literature adapted to the en- 
listment of the public mind in its behalf, and to the circulation 
among the masses of that information, upon which its right 
influence depends. If modern times have witnessed any 
advancement in the enterprise of the Church — any more 
general awakenment among the masses to the objects of use- 
fulness — it is attributable, to a large extent, to the circulation 
of books, and especially of periodical literature, gotten up with 
specific reference to these results. It is by means of Church 
periodicals that the great body of the Church are directed to 
the objects of enterprise, are enlightened as to their obliga- 
tions in respect of them, and are united in harmonious co- 
operation for their accomplishment. Indeed, dependent as 
all enlightened and extensive Church enterprise is upon 
knowledge generally diffused, it is difficult to perceive how 
the Church is ever to be elevated to her right position of use- 
fulness, except by a circulation of a literature adapted to this 
end. It is this which extends the views of the people beyond 
themselves, and, holding the mind in contact with the in- 
terests of the general cause, enlarges the conceptions of duty, 
and interests the feelings in all that contributes to the weal 
of men, and the promotion of Christian interests. Any 



THE LITERATURE FUNCTION. 121 

Church is stagnant and contracted in all her movements, 
which does not provide for herself this enlightening, stimulating 
agency; and Methodism to-day needs more than all else, that 
she may expand her system to the utmost capacity of useful- 
ness, a well-digested plan for the circulation of right books 
and periodicals. 

Literature is still the channel of which infidelity avails 
itself to obtain circulation and currency. Those grosser forms 
of infidelity, which utterly discard the Bible as a divine reve- 
lation, and of which Tom Paine, Voltaire, Rousseau, Hobbes, 
and Hume are the types, have, to a large extent, become ab- 
solete, especially in Protestant countries. The general spread 
of enlightened Christianity has so diffused the strong evidences 
of its divinity, as to have shut out, in a great measure, the 
possibility of absolute skepticism, and within the limits of 
Protestant Christendom there are but few so bold as to avow 
it. Still, there are certain classes of mind, among whom, 
while Revelation is admitted, it is yet so interpreted as to 
divest it of all that is peculiar and saving, and as reduces it 
to the level of a mere human composition. These are, first, 
a certain metaphysical class, who, instead of subjecting the 
operation of their own minds to the authority of the Scriptures, 
first elaborate independently certain theories of their own of 
God and man, and the universe, and then, while admitting 
the truth of divine Revelation, subject its interpretation to the 
authority of these theories — explaining away all that conflicts 
with them, and accepting as real only so much as harmonizes 
with their own a priori conclusions. They likewise embrace 
a class of idealists, who, with unbalanced minds, under the 
influence of extravagant imagination, subject the Bible to a 
mystical or allegorical interpretation, by which all that con- 
stitutes its facts are divested of their eflicacy, and the whole 
scheme of Revelation is reduced either to a mere system of 
idealism, or to a mere mode of religious development in 
6 



122 PROGRESS. 

common with Mohainedanisni or Brahmanism, all of which 
are claimed to be equally divine. The former are usually 
classed under the general denomination of rationalists — the 
latter under that of mystics. They both, as respects the 
particular forms now prevailing, had their origin mainly in 
Germany — Kant, and Schelling, and Hegel being the 
founders of the former class — Strauss and Fichte of the latter 
But their influence is not confined to their own country. 
Minds of similar order in Great Britain and the United States, 
that have been brought into contact with their systems, have 
imbibed their views, and though not proceeding in every 
instance to the same extent, yet, under modified forms, as 
effectually divest Revelation of its divine efficacy. Carlyle, 
various writers of the Westminster Review, and the Mar- 
tineaus, who, starting with a denial of the Trinity, had already 
assumed a principle of Biblical interpretation which neces- 
sarily led them to the rejection of the peculiarities of the 
Gospel, are examples of the metaphysical class. Tennyson. 
the Howitts, Leigh Hunt, Balph Waldo Emerson, are ex- 
amples of the mystical class — while Theodore Parker, the 
most noisy and active of them all, combines in himself both 
elements, and may be regarded as a blended type of all the 
existing forms of infidelity. 

Now, these individuals, and many others of the same 
classes, possessed of active intellect, and zealous in the pro- 
pagation of their tenets, are constantly engaged, in every 
variety of prose and poetic composition, and through every 
medium of book and periodical, to circulate their views. The 
press teems with their productions. The genius, the intel- 
lectual power they display, renders them generally attractive, 
while the extravagant praise of those who, from similarity of 
taste, are their peculiar admirers, and who generally are of 
that cast of active intellects that wield a decided influence 
in the republic of letters, greatly tends to draw public atteD- 



THE LITERATURE FUNCTION. 123 

tion to them ; and these causes have combined to make them 
more extensively read, especially among the elevated and 
influential, both in the Church and out of it, than any other 
works of the day. But presented as they are in forms so 
plausible, so specious and attractive, how well calculated are 
their views, tending as they do to set aside the divine charac- 
ter of Revelation, and all that is evangelical and saving in its 
teachings, gradually to infuse themselves into the minds of 
those who read them. How natural it is to convert to their 
embracement those who, from mental constitution and tem- 
perament, are peculiarly susceptible to such views — to bias 
those without previously well-established opinions — to unsettle 
opinion, and to produce doubts and misgivings, and induce 
fundamental errors' in the minds of those who before had 
correctly thought and felt upon these momentous subjects ! 
Indeed, it is impossible to conceive that writings so charac- 
terized by all the indications of highest genius, of ardent 
temperament and zeal, should have such extended circulation 
all over our land, and among the leading classes of society, 
without feeling assured that the peculiar infidel views which 
they are designed to inculcate do exercise a powerful influence 
in modifying, if not moulding, the religious faith of men. 

But if it is by books and periodicals that such pernicious 
views are disseminated, it is by the same agency that they 
are to be counteracted. An abundant provision of suitable 
religious literature would exert this counteracting effect in one 
or both of two ways. First : it would become in a measure 
a substitute for these infidel productions, and by curtailing 
their circulation restrict their influence. Second : it would 
constitute an antidote to these productions, so that if evil was 
done by them, a remedy would be at hand for the removal 
of its effects. If harm is done by books, the policy should be 
to employ books to remove it. The same disposition and 
taste which prompts to the reading of the pernicious class, 



124 PROGRESS. 

would, to a large extent, prompt to the perusal of the better 
class. And it is, perhaps, true that if it is through the in- 
strumentality of books that any general harm is inflicted, no 
agency that could be employed would be so likely to administer 
the suitable counteractive, as books themselves. 

But after substracting from the general mass of the current 
literature of the day that which possesses this decidedly infidel 
tendency — and a very superficial discrimination would show 
that it constitutes no small portion of the whole — still that 
which remains is composed in so large a measure of that which 
is corrupting by its tendency to minister to the base passions, 
or secularizing by the steadiness with which all Christian 
reference is ignored and repudiated, that in respect of its 
effects upon the Christian interests of society, its consequences 
are hardly less positively pernicious. It is a curious fact that 
the largest portion of the most elegant literature of the day, 
and especially of that which is denominated light literature, 
and which from the nature of its topics, and the attractiveness 
of its style, constitutes the staple of the reading of the pub- 
lic, though the product of minds not disposed to doubt the 
authority of the Bible, and though intended for readers them- 
selves, believers of the Bible, is for the most part destitute 
of all Christian reference, and, both in its spirit and substance, 
is as if Christianity had no existence among men. But in 
addition we have but to frequent the various book marts of 
the country, to see the vast amount of impure, corrupting 
literature, without even the merit of literary excellence to 
redeem it, which in a cheap form is retailed out to the people, 
and which now constitutes a large portion of the reading matter 
of the masses. 

It is this conduct of the literature of the world, with such 
steadied repudiation of all Christian spirit and aim — in other 
words, it is this divorcement of literature from the spirit of 
Christianity, which has created that aversion of literary men 



THE LITERATURE FUNCTION. 125 

to evangelical Christianity, about which the celebrated Foster 
has written so profoundly, which has tended to make the 
profession of literature unfavorable to right Christian expe- 
rience — which, creating the impression that the Christian 
empire is not coextensive with the entire sphere of the mind, 
but that there are regions of mental range unembraced in the 
dominion of Christianity, has fostered an infidel spirit that 
has made literature itself an agency of secularization, and for 
the alienation of the mind from the spirit and objects of 
right Christianity. 

But if such is the effect of much of the standard litera- 
ture of the day, what must be the influence of that other 
class, of such abundant circulation, addressed to the lowest, 
basest passions of men, and whose professed aim is to minister 
to their excitement and indulgence ? How debasing and de- 
grading to human nature ! How powerful its neutralizing 
influence upon all the better agencies of society ! How 
strong its tendency to ruin, forever ruin the soul ! 

Indeed, when we consider the vast amount of books and 
periodicals everywhere circulating, and read all over our land; 
diffusing ideas and suggesting thought, it must be admitted 
that it is an agency of powerful influence over the mind. If 
then, these books and periodicals, instead of directing the 
mind to the great objects of Christianity, are in respect of the 
best portion of them without religious reference, and destitute 
of religious spirit, and in respect of the other, positively cor- 
rupting, then that influence which they exert must be an in- 
fluence unchristian in its character, and detrimental to the 
claims and interests of Christianity. 

But, if literature is thus damaging the Christian cause and 
obstructing its progress, it is literature which must be em- 
ployed to counteract it. The same thirst for reading — the 
same principle of curiosity — which is the basis for the circu- 
lation of the one class, must be availed of to give currency to 



126 PROGRESS. 

the other — its antidote and corrective. The Church must 
arouse herself to furnish the entire country with a sanctified 
literature — a literature which, while it is characterized by all 
the genius and taste necessary to render it attractive to the 
cultivated, shall be so pervaded by Christian spirit and Chris- 
tian reference, as will not only gave the mind from seculariza- 
tion, but will hold it in contact with the sacred spirit of a 
life-giving Christianity. Such a literature, abundantly dis- 
seminated in every precinct of the entire community, would 
substitute in great measure existing literature — would neu- 
tralize its secular tendency, and, engrossing to a large extent 
the reading mania of the people, would employ it as a most 
valuable auxiliary in the spread of religious information, and 
the general progress of the gospel. 

But, if such be the results which ensue from the dissemi- 
nation of religious literature, if such be the high function 
of sanctified literature, it is an undeniable fact that the Me- 
thodist Church has never yet employed, to its fullest extent, 
this agency of usefulness. The proof of it is seen in the 
absence of all systematic Church plan for providing and cir- 
culating such literature to an extent commensurate with the 
reading capacity and taste of the whole country, and more 
conclusively in the small proportion which the religious books 
in the various domestic libraries of the country sustain to 
those of secular character — in the limited number of religious 
periodicals circulated in comparison with the secular — and in 
the positive destitution in many reading families of all even 
the standard works of evangelical literature. It is true that 
Methodism, as contracted as was her scheme of instrumen- 
talities in the outset, has always appreciated the value of 
religious literature, and from its earliest establishment, sought 
to incorporate it in her system of operations. Mr. Wesley 
himself was a voluminous writer and compiler of books, and 
occupied a no inconsiderable portion of his busy life in the 



THE LITERATURE FUNCTION. 127 

provision and circulation of useful religious books. The 
mammoth Book Concern, built up and sustained by the pa~ 
tronage of the Methodist Church, is a monument of its ap 
preciation of literature as a constituent Church instrumentality. 
And as long as the union of the Church was maintained, 
there was a circulation of books, to some extent, commensurate 
with the public want. But even then, under the mistaken 
policy of making that Concern a source of revenue, and for 
that purpose holding the books above the general market 
price, and without any systematic plan for efficient distribu- 
tion, this instrumentality was not allowed its fullest develop- 
ment in the widest possible circulation of the books. But 
since the separate organization of the Southern Church, we 
have been without a plan for the provision of books commen- 
surate with the public demand. Our preachers, who here- 
tofore had acted as agents for distribution, have to a large 
extent abandoned this useful vocation, and, by consequence, 
for the last several years, while the country has been flooded 
with secular literature, there has been no corresponding sup- 
ply of religious books. To the libraries of the country there 
has been, within that time, but few accessions of books of 
that character. A comparative dearth of religious literature 
has been allowed to come upon the people. And to him who 
rightly appreciates the powerful influence of the literature 
function upon the public mind, it is alarming to contemplate 
the tide of secular literature which has everywhere so power- 
fully set in, and yet the utter absence of that of a sanctified 
character, which alone is adapted to its successful counter- 
action Too long has the Church, arrested in her movements 
by her unsettled relations in this respect with the Northern 
Church, allowed herself to be inactive in this department. 
Besides this arrest of the circulation of religious books, and 
the accumulation everywhere of those of an opposite kind, 
which it has occasioned, it has allowed the loss of a taste for 



128 PROGRESS. 

religious reading, and the growth of a taste for that of an 
opposite character, which has brought upon us a moral crisis 
at once deplorable and fearful. It has involved us, as a Church, 
in a loss of moral position and of moral efficiency, which no- 
thing but the wisest and most judicious employment of this 
function, without delay, will enable us to regain, and even 
then, time and the most persevering execution alone will in- 
sure this desirable result. 

But to secure such development of the literature function 
as will enable it to accomplish these high results of useful- 
ness, the first step is the subjection by the Church of this 
function to its own control, by assuming the business of pro- 
viding the books intended for general circulation. This will 
enable it to control the kind of books read by the people — 
an object of great importance, not only because of what may 
be forestalled and prevented by such an arrangement, but 
because of the power which it secures to the Church of 
making the best use of this function, in the character of 
the books brought out, and in adapting it to the changing 
wants of the public. 

But having thus subjected the book interest to her control, 
the next step is the provision by the Church, in abundance, 
of such books as she does select. Recognized and adopted 
as an agency of highest usefulness, and intended, therefore, 
to be aggressive in its movements, the Church must not wait 
for demand to elicit supply, but must become the creator and 
encourager of demand, and thereby force and insure the cir- 
culation by at once and abundantly providing the supply. In 
advance of demand, and for the purpose of preparing the 
way among the people for the proper appropriation of this 
agency, she must assume the business of filling the markets 
with religious books. And not only must she thus furnish 
books of the right kind, but she must furnish them at the 
lowest practicable rates. To make the literature function of 



THE LITERATURE FUNCTION. 129 

the greatest possible value, of course, the books must have 
the greatest possible circulation ; but experience as well as 
political economy teaches that, ceteris paribus, the sale of the 
books, and consequently their circulation, will be great, in- 
versely as the price. Even those of abundant pecuniary 
means would be so far influenced by the consideration of 
price, as to make the extent of circulation largely dependent 
upon it, and in respect of the indigent, necessarily it would 
exercise a controlling influence. 

It has been the policy of the Methodist Church a long 
time, through her Book Concern, before the Church division, 
and the agency system since, to subject the literature func- 
tion to her own control; and unquestionably, as respects 
the two grand ideas which such subjection implies, the con- 
trol of the kind of books, and the largest possible circulation 
of the books, either of these plans combines every necessary 
element. But yet, as respects either of these ideas, it must 
be admitted that, for some reasons, they have failed thus far 
to make this subjection complete, and the Church conse- 
quently has not as yet subordinated to her uses, to its utmost 
extent, the literature function. 

The first reason has been, that heretofore they have been 
conducted with reference to revenue rather than dissemina- 
tion : in other words, in their management, the idea of money- 
making has been paramount to that of distribution. This 
has restricted the circulation of books in two ways : by caus- 
ing higher prices to be put upon the books, and smaller 
stocks kept in the markets ; the first having the effect, di- 
rectly, by diminishing the number of purchasers, and the 
other, indirectly, by failing to create demand. But not only 
have they failed, for this reason, to secure a cardinal object 
of the literature function, the largest possible circulation of 
books, but likewise by a failure to secure a monopoly of the 
reading of the Church — the result of defeat in this first grand 
6* 



130 PROGRESS. 

object — they have likewise not secured the other leading ob- 
ject of this function, the control of the kind of reading of the 
Church. To the extent of the failure in obtaining this mono- 
poly, other books find circulation among the people. To say 
nothing of many other agencies which, taking advantage of 
this deficiency of supply to disseminate books unfavorable to 
our views and policy, the American Tract Society has found 
large room of supply among us, scattering, among many most 
valuable productions, those whose bearing and effect, espe- 
cially among our young and the unsettled in opinion, are not 
the most favorable to the interests of Methodism. 

Now, we maintain that the policy of employing the litera- 
ture function, as a scheme for raising revenue, is utterly un- 
sound. It necessarily implies this doctrine, which must be 
regarded unsafe, that a Church, as such, in her organic 
capacity, may engage in pecuniary trade and traffic to raise 
her means of support. For, if she engages in the book trade 
to raise revenue, why not in any other business regarded as 
just and legitimate ? Surely this is a departure from the 
sacred functions peculiar and proper to the Church of God. 
The true source of the needed revenues of the Church is the 
voluntary contributions of the people, and the methods to 
obtain them consist in such appeal as enlightens their sense 
of obligation and stimulates their liberality. This is a system 
which, while it opens up a method for an indefinite extension 
of revenue — an extension as wide as the capacity of the Church 
for enlightenment — it at the same time furnishes the occasion 
of progress in every subjective element of Christian experi- 
ence, and of the constant influx of the blessings of Heaven. 
Why ignore this divinely appointed system of raising the 
money of the Church, and thereby not only fall upon one 
less effective, but deprive the Church of improvement and 
blessing, which the economy of G-od contemplates should be 
hers ? Should it be said that this voluntary system is slow, 



THE LITERATURE FUNCTION. 131 

and that these are merely temporary expedients to supple- 
ment this system and to supply deficiencies, we reply that 
the only effect of these expedients is to divert attention from 
this, the rightful method of raising Church revenue, and, as 
far as they act, to create an obstruction to its adoption — 
the experience of the Southern Church, which has been 
without them, clearly proving that, so far from such ex- 
pedients constituting a source of additional gain, as claimed 
for them, the revenue of the Church is larger, when without 
them, and when relying exclusively upon the spontaneous 
offerings of the people. 

But, aside from these insuperable objections, we hold the 
literature function to be an instrumentality of usefulness too 
important and precious to be hampered and restricted by such 
an object. The circulation of books is a means of usefulness, 
as we have seen, second only to the pulpit, having the same 
objects in view, and contributing extensively and powerfully 
to their realization. Shall the Church adopt a policy in which 
she intentionally provides for the restriction and hinderance of 
that instrumentality? As well might she provide, for the 
sake of obtaining some subordinate end, for the curtailment of 
the operations of the ministry itself. It is as if she were to 
consent to realize less of the great ends of the gospel, for the 
sake of employing some minor instrumentality : it is as if she 
were to barter the salvation of souls for some empty species of 
Church paraphernalia : it is as if she were to consent to re- 
strict the spread of the gospel itself, and the realization of 
its ultimate objects, for some object merely incident to, and 
not of it. No : even if Church revenue were only to be raised 
by trade and traffic, some other species of it should be adopted, 
leaving free this agency, so cardinal and leading in achieving 
the real ends of the Church. It is the extreme of folly to 
sacrifice the object itself for the attainment of that which is 
merely intended to promote it. But when there are other 



132 PROGRESS. 

methods of money-raising more efficient and more scriptural, 
then the employment of this agency, with that design, dimi- 
nishing, as it does, its inherent capacity for usefulness, is essen- 
tially an unwise, if not a criminal policy. 

Another cause of the failure in the Church to subject the 
literature function, in its fullest development, to her control, 
has been, especially in reference to the Southern Church, a 
want of the necessary capital. The publication of books, and 
consequently the supply of books, requires, of course, the out- 
lay of capital ; and that publication and supply necessary to 
provide all the books which the people throughout the entire 
Church might be induced to read, and which are demanded to 
give the literature function the greatest possible efficiency, 
necessarily require an immense capital. When we consider 
the amount of capital which has been employed to evolve 
the secular literature of the country, and to supply the people 
with it, we may form some idea of what is required to bring 
out religious literature to the highest limit of circulation of 
which it is susceptible, and of the insufficiency of that capital 
which the Church has heretofore employed in her book inte- 
rest to provide for that circulation. Our country is broad and 
populous, and our people are emphatically a reading people ; 
and to extend the business of providing religious literature 
to the utmost limit which the capacity for circulation will 
justify — in other words, to make the most of the literature 
function — the limited means heretofore invested in this busi- 
ness are wholly inadequate. The very considerable addition 
to the capital of the Southern Church invested in this busi- 
ness — the result of the settlement of the question of division 
with the Northern Church — will contribute greatly to a full 
expansion of our book interest. Still, with all that, when we 
consider the vast country to be supplied, and the number of 
books which, if by an actively aggressive system the markets 
of the country were positively forced, as is the case in respect 



THE LITERATURE FUNCTION. 133 

of the secular book trade, could be constantly thrown into 
circulation among all ranks of society, it is evident that there 
ought to be a yet much greater increase of pecuniary outlay 
in the book business, to secure an appropriation of its fullest 
capacity for usefulness. 

But having obtained this large addition to its capital 
— itself sufficient to constitute a safe basis' 'for future 
operations — let the former policy of the Church in re- 
ference to her book interest be changed, and instead of 
seeking to make it a source of revenue, let her paramount 
idea, as with the American Tract Society, be dissemination; 
and to realize this idea, let her aim be to furnish books at the 
lowest possible rates, securing this end in two ways : First, 
By publishing the books in the cheapest style compatible 
with convenience and durability; and, secondly, By discard- 
ing all idea of profits, except so far as may be necessary to 
sustain the business, and to circulate the books. Such a 
policy in itself will fulfill several of the most important con- 
ditions implied in the fullest development of the literature 
function. 1st, It will greatly increase the number of books 
provided by the Church for circulation : 2d, It will greatly 
increase the number who are brought within the range of 
ability to purchase books, and diminish the difficulty of all to 
purchase them; and 3d, Converting as it does the whole 
Book interest into a benevolent scheme, it will give the dis- 
semination policy an aggressive character, and dispose its 
whole operations with reference to the furtherance of that 
policy. 

The dissemination plan of the American Tract Society, in 
short, is the one we would commend to the adoption of the 
Methodist Church. And if this, under all the disabilities 
of mutual jealousy and apprehension, among those who 
manage it, and the suspicion and indifference with which it 
is often regarded by the various branches of the Christian 



134 PROGRESS. 

Church among whom it finds patronage, has been able to 
secure such an extended circulation of its books, and to attain 
such decided control over the religious reading of the coun- 
try, what would a Book business on a scale commensurate 
with the power and numbers of the Methodist Church, and 
controlled with all the vigor which denominational spirit and 
energy could infuse, and enjoying the fullest confidence and 
cooperation of the entire Church, be able to accomplish, in 
the limits of that Church, when, like the Tract Society, its 
books were published on the cheapest scale, sold on the 
cheapest possible terms, and its entire energies were devoted 
to the one object of securing the widest possible circulation 
of a pure, unmixed religious literature. Such a system, on a 
scale of amplest means, and looking alone to the one end of 
diffusion, will give the highest efficiency to the literature 
function of the Church : it will secure a monopoly of the 
market ) and in doing so will realize the two grand condi- 
tions implied in the full development of that function — the 
exclusive direction of the kind of religious reading of the 
people, and the supply of reading matter for the people to 
the full extent of their capacity to appropriate it. 

Another step required to subordinate the literature function 
to the Church, and to give the fullest effect to it, is the estab- 
lishment and universal circulation of the right kind of 
periodical literature. First, it is indispensable to secure to 
the religious masses an enlightened acquaintance with the 
progress of religious knowledge, and with the current history 
of the Church : Second, it is indispensable to the production 
and maintenance of an enlightened public spirit, especially in 
respect of the general benevolent enterprises of the Church : 
Third, it is more interesting and attractive to the multitude, 
and, consequently, enjoys more advantages to obtain universal 
circulation. 

The objects to be accomplished by the periodical literature 



THE LITERATURE FUNCTION. 135 

of the Church are various, and its complete development, 
therefore, demands the fulfillment of several conditions. 

1. There are certain objects of a general character, 
having in view the union, and harmony, and cooperation of 
the entire Church in its organic capacity, which it is the office 
of a periodical literature to accomplish : First, a general con- 
currence of sentiment everywhere, in respect of the cardinal 
doctrines of the Bible and the principles of Church economy : 
and, second, a broad connectional spirit — an enlarged and 
liberal feeling of mutual interest and regard, as between the 
various conferences, as between the different sections into 
which, from geographical or social causes, our Church terri- 
tory is divided, and as it respects the entire country in all its 
parts, over which our Church organization has jurisdiction. 
Diffused as our membership is over a wide extent of territory, 
and composed as it is of many distinct communities, each of 
which is subject to its own peculiar influences, it is evident 
that in this age of intellectual independence, and of free- 
thinking — in this age so fruitful in extravagant speculation 
and wild opinion, when the conservative elements of the 
past and all that is authoritative in opinion have so little re- 
straint upon the public mind — there ought to be some grand 
central organ which, established by the Church, and clothed 
with her authority, and under the ablest management which 
could be secured for it, should stand out as a general light 
for the entire Church, representing her fundamental princi- 
ples both of doctrine and polity, and constituting a standard 
for the general regulation of her leading views and policy. 
Such an organ, patronized by the entire Church, would 
exercise a conservative influence upon the whole mass of the 
membership — would forestall the introduction of false and 
heretical views — and would powerfully contribute to the 
unity and harmony of the Church, in all those first principles, 
agreement upon which is essential to the integrity of the 



136 PROGRESS, 

communion. A quarterly periodical, such as our Quarterly 
Review, is just such an organ. Intended to give elaborate 
reviews of all that literature of the day, as it comes from the 
press, that relates to the principles and economy of Chris- 
tianity, in which the false and dangerous is pointed out, and 
the true and valuable commended — devoted to the unfolding 
and the defence of great fundamental truth, and to the pre- 
sentation and upholding of the true policy of the Church — 
if patronized by the entire Church of every section, its 
necessary effect would be to guard the communion every- 
where from the error and delusion to which in this day it is 
so abundantly liable — to maintain in the public mind the 
just ascendency of truth — and to secure unity among all 
Methodists in all that pertains to the doctrines, the spirit, and 
aims of Methodism. 

Such a periodical, widely disseminated, will, in addition, 
improve the thinking and the substantial knowledge of the 
Church. Profoundly and elaborately discussing the great 
moral questions of the day, and presenting constantly learned 
and able treatises upon the philosophy and history of Chris- 
tianity, the bare reading will be a discipline to the mind, 
improving its powers and directing them to right modes 
of investigation; while the knowledge conveyed will 'con- 
stitute the most valuable additions to the wealth of the mind. 

But not only this general concurrence and harmony of 
opinion, in respect of the doctrines and polity of the Church, 
but likewise that other general object — a broad, connectional 
feeling — a sentiment of union and identity in interest and 
aim throughout the entire limits of the Church — must be 
sought and provided for through periodical literature. Me- 
thodism, whose organization contemplates such intimate con- 
nection between all sections over which it has jurisdiction, 
and whose efficient action demands the harmonious coopera- 
tion of all its parts — Methodism, which is but a system of 



THE LITERATURE FUNCTION. 137 

mutual dependences, must be pervaded and vitalized by such 
a spirit. Organizations which are loose in their structure; 
may exist without such unity and congeniality ; but Metho- 
dism must be homogeneous in its elements — its people must 
be united — their interest and affection must be mutual 
everywhere. But while such prevailing sentiment is so indis- 
pensable, and there is much in the structure of Methodism to 
maintain it, yet growing out of a mutually repulsive tendency 
to some extent existing between its different conference dis- 
tricts, and largely existing between different sections, the 
result of geographical or political causes, there is an antago- 
nism to it everywhere existing, which powerfully tends to 
overbear and suppress it. There needs to be, therefore, the 
employment by the Church of some instrumentality for the 
cultivation and maintenance of this indispensable element. 
A weekly periodical, intended for the whole Church, pub- 
lished at so cheap rate as to secure the patronage of the 
Church, would constitute such an agency. The organ of the 
whole Church, it would be conducted free from all local or 
sectional bias — it would be a medium through which every 
section of the Church would communicate with the public, 
and all could maintain a knowledge of the progress of events 
throughout the entire ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Its interest 
being the common interest of every part of the Church — its 
editorial matter and management would all be brought to 
bear upon those great objects, which tend to unite and con- 
centrate the hosts of Methodism; and the entire Church 
patronizing it would necessarily feel the influence of its 
enlarged catholic spirit. Methodism feels the need of this 
connectional agency now. For while our existing papers 
are, in a measure, sectional, we have no great organ through 
which every part of the Church may communicate with each 
other, and by which the Church of every section may main- 
tain a prompt arid constant acquaintance with the affairs of 



138 PROGRESS. 

the whole Church. This weekly sheet would constitute such 
an organ, and while it would thus become a connectional tie, 
a grand centre whence would constantly proceed influences of 
common brotherhood tending to neutralize repellent forces, 
and to identify Methodists in one common spirit of union 
and harmonious cooperation, it would likewise be a con- 
stant source of enlarged and enlightened views, of encourage- 
ment and zeal throughout the entire Church. 

2. Each of the various grand departments of Church 
enterprise ought to have its own periodical devoted to the 
exposition of the principles upon which it is based, and the 
presentation of the facts of its current history. The Church 
has already such an organ for the Sunday-school department 
in the Sunday-school Visitor. The missionary department 
especially ought to have its own periodical. The benefit of 
these specific organs is founded in the great principle of dis- 
tribution, by which the sources of information, in respect of all 
these departments, are rendered more perfect, and, when con- 
sidered in their sum, are made to constitute a complete system. 

3. But in addition to these periodicals, which, representing 
interests equally applicable to all sections, are designed to have 
a circulation coexistent with the entire limits of the Church, 
there are local or sectional papers, such as we now have in 
the family of Advocates, which, for many imperative reasons, 
ought to be maintained. First, such a system secures a 
larger circulation of periodical literature, and, consequently, 
multiplies the sources of information among the people : second, 
they furnish media for the diffusion of local information, 
which could not be supplied in the general papers : third, 
they constitute agents for upholding and advancing the local 
institutions of the Church : fourth, as media of communica- 
tion with the public, they serve to develop the literary talent 
of the Church — to bring into available exercise its concen- 
trated intelligence and zeal. 



THE LITERATURE FUNCTION. 139 

The reasons which make these local or sectional papers 
necessary, demand the multiplication of them to any degree 
compatible with self-support and efficient editorial ability 
They must not be allowed to depreciate in their absolute 
value, or to become incapable of their own independent sup- 
port, because of their multiplication ; but within these limits, 
we should hail with satisfaction, as an accession to the effect- 
ive force of the Church, every addition to this class of period- 
ical literature. 

There is yet another measure necessary to render the 
literature function fully available to the Church, and thereby 
to complete its development, and that is the employmentof her 
talent, in the production of religious literature. In any 
Church constituted of a membership so numerous and en- 
lightened as is that of the Methodist Church, and anions; 
whom are so many of the agencies of intellectual activity and 
progress, there are necessarily to be found all the resources 
of an ample home literature. The advantages derived from 
a development of these resources are several. First, in re- 
spect of the authors, it would be the means of enlisting 
them more fully in the great objects of the Church — of 
bringing them more prominently forward in the prosecution 
of her interests, and thereby of augmenting her active, effi- 
cient force. Most certainly, this is a condition important to 
be fulfilled in any great Church. Every such Church, in all 
stages of her progress, either for defence, or as necessary to 
further growth, has need for the diffusion of light of a specific 
character, bearing upon particular points, and intended to 
meet peculiar or special emergencies. Literature is the most 
practicable agent for the dissemination of this light, and none 
but those who live in the bosom of the Church, who have im- 
bibed her spirit and appreciate her actual state — none, in short, 
but home authors — are capable of this precise and specific 
employment of it. Secondly, the Methodist Church, from the 



140 PROGRESS. 

active character of its machinery, rapid ^n its movements and 
progressive in its growth, especially needs this agent for the 
spread of ideas, and the concentration of energy and purpose ; 
and the absence of it has greatly hindered its advancement. 
Thirdly, it will contribute to secure our independence, in re- 
spect of agencies the most important — those which control 
the thinking and the opinion of the public, of all foreign in- 
fluences, many of which are unfavorable to our principles and 
our interests ; and by quickening the intellectual activity of 
the people, to elevate their intellectual condition, and aug- 
ment their resources of usefulness. Fourthly, possessing 
advantages for attracting popular attention, home literature 
will be more generally read, and thereby the capabilities of 
the literature function will be extended. 

The rapid advancement of intelligence and literary taste in 
the Methodist Church within recent years — the result of its 
educational and other enlightening agencies — has begun 
already to develop a home literature. Books and pamphlets — 
the product of home authors, and treating of subjects applica- 
ble to the condition and wants of our people — already have 
come forth from the press ; and our periodical literature is 
cultivating the spirit of authorship, increasingly enriched as 
it is with their original productions. There ought to be a 
rapid advancement in this hopeful tendency. Within the 
limits of the Methodist communion, there exists even now a 
no inconsiderable share of such talent, as only needs to be 
given this direction to create at once an amount of home 
literature, not only in the highest degree honorable to the 
Church, but sufficient to realize all the high results of useful- 
ness to which it is adapted. The Church should be impressed 
with the importance of such direction of her talent. Indi- 
viduals, conscious of their ability to accomplish something 
with their pens for the development of the literature function, 
should feel the responsibility, remembering that to fail in 



THE LITERATURE FUNCTION. 141 

effort in this department, however active in other respects, 
would still subject them to the condemnation of him who is 
recorded to have buried his talent. The Church should adopt 
some efficient plan to encourage her authors by publishing their 
productions — such, at least, as promise usefulness — and of 
providing for their sale and circulation among the people. 
Her policy should be to look with the utmost favor upon this 
most important feature, as an essential element of her 
literature function. She should seek actively to throw the 
full weight of her sanction and influence in its favor, and thus, 
by the removal of those natural obstructions always existing 
to this particular direction of talent, and lending her hearty 
cooperation in all the steps necessary to the practical elicita- 
tion of it, bring out and encourage whatever of resource it 
may contain for the realization of all the results of an elevated 
and ample home literature. 

But that the Church may enjoy the full benefit of the 
literature function, it is not enough that she thus provides 
the literature needed, but as she is designed to be aggressive, 
and all of her instrumentalities should partake of that charac- 
ter, she must herself likewise assume the agency for securing 
its actual dissemination among the people. Simply to publish 
books and periodicals, and to rely for their circulation upon 
the actual application of the people for them, would be to re- 
strict that circulation to the more enlightened and zealous, while 
the ignorant and the indifferent — the class most to be bene- 
fitted — uninformed of their existence, and of the modes of 
access to them, and, at best, careless in regard to them — 
would derive no direct benefit from them. If the Church, 
therefore, would make the most of her literature function, 
she must proceed a step "further, and by some general plan, 
accommodated to the circumstances of the people, herself 
induce the dissemination of her literature. 

In organizing such a plan, the first step should be to estab- 



142 PROGRESS. 

lish. as many depositories in convenient localities, as conld be 
made consistent with the financial interests of the general 
Concern, whence all the various literature of the Church could 
be obtained. The multiplication of points at which books 
can be seen increases the number who see and know of them, 
as well as the facilities for obtaining them — conditions which 
must necessarily result in their increased circulation. Such an 
arrangement gives to the book trade an aggressive character, 
the effect of which is to enlarge and extend its business. 
And though such a policy may involve an increase of expen- 
diture, yet it is an increase which, with prudent selection of 
points for depositories, and wise management, would be more 
than compensated by the increased income resulting from the 
increased saleS. The great object of our book interest — the 
dissemination of sanctified literature — has been greatly de- 
feated by the contracted scale upon which it has been con- 
ducted. Business men — conducting a business of this kind 
for secular ends, enjoying the patronage and friendly coopera- 
tion of so numerous and extended a class of society — would 
never have restricted their centres of business to two or 
three localities ; but they would have multiplied these 
centres until, by occupying every important market of the 
country, they had, as the result of their own active seeking, 
covered the whole country, and appropriated its utmost capa- 
city to their own patronage. Such a policy would be prudent 
and safe with the Church, and as such is imperatively de- 
manded by all the considerations which give value to her 
literature function. 

But in addition to this feature in the plan for distribution 
which has a bearing upon the specific result, though decided 
yet indirect and general, there needs to be some arrangement 
by which to bring to bear the energies of the Church upon 
the masses of the people in a manner more direct and special. 
To effect that arrangement, let each circuit and station, or as 



THE LITERATURE FUNCTION. 143 

many of the benevolent of each as choose to cooperate, form 
themselves into a joint-stock company, each member taking 
any number of shares, subject to withdrawal at option, (on 
the condition of having the amount subscribed refunded in 
books,) securing thereby a fund to be invested in books se- 
lected under the direction of a book committee. To render 
this scheme in the highest degree benevolent and useful, the 
feature might be incorporated of extensive donations to the 
poor, the diminution in the fund thus caused to be supplied 
by occasional renewals of subscriptions. Such would be 
especially practicable in communities of wealth and enlight- 
ened benevolence. But if this more expensive scheme be 
objected to, let the fund originally raised be rendered per- 
manent by the sale of the books on such terms as will cover 
costs and losses from occasional gifts. Let these books be 
kept in some designated place as their known depository. In 
most of our towns and cities, which, as being most frequented, 
are the most appropriate places of depository, there are Metho- 
dist merchants who would be glad to further this enterprise, 
by making their stores the places of deposit ; but if such fa- 
cilities be wanting, the parsonages might be used as suitable 
to this "purpose. A comparatively small capital would be suf- 
ficient to maintain a constant, adequate supply for any of our 
communities, as frequent reinvestments would make the entire 
amount constantly available. 

The difficulty of access to them, under the present condi- 
tion of things, prevents many every where from furnishing 
themselves more abundantly with religious books — especially 
since the easiness of access to secular literature secures to it so 
many advantages for monopolizing the reading taste. It 
has operated against the proper furniture of Sunday-school 
libraries. But the adoption of this plan will obviate this diffi- 
culty, and thus greatly increase the dissemination of books. 
This indefinite multiplication of points at which books may 



144 PROGRESS. 

be seen and purchased will greatly increase the demand for 
them, and vast numbers will be circulated which, without this 
convenience of access, would never have found their way 
among the people. 

But the scheme of the Church ought not to stop here. It 
must be rendered more positive and aggressive still. There 
would still be many who, never coming into contact with or 
within the immediate sphere of these depositories, would con- 
tinue to live without the books. This would be especially 
true of the ignorant and indifferent class, who are indeed the 
most important objects of this dissemination agency. To 
reach these, each of these joint-stock companies must have 
one or more agents for the dissemination of the books within 
the limits of its jurisdiction. Our preachers, and especially 
our junior preachers, are the proper persons to become these 
agents, their vocation furnishing them ample opportunities for 
such intercourse with every class of people as the proper dis- 
charge of this agency would require, while the nature of the 
employment specially accords with their own great mission of 
spreading Christian knowledge among men. 

The plan here proposed is fundamentally the same with the 
auxiliary associations of the American Bible Society : the only 
difference being, that while these associations propose only the 
distribution of Bibles, these joint-stock companies contemplate 
likewise the dissemination of all the various classes of sancti- 
fied literature. These latter, therefore, are recommended in 
that they may be made to aid the objects of the former. In- 
deed, in many instances, it might be practicable to blend them : 
the same agent acting for both, by an increase of responsibility, 
the chances are increased of a faithful discharge of the duty. 
The great success of these auxiliary Bible associations shows 
the practicability of this plan for the dissemination of a gene- 
ral religious literature, especially as, under the practical man- 
agement of the preachers and Church authorities, this latter 



THE LITERATURE FUNCTION. 145 

would enjoy increased advantages of vigor and uniformity in 
its operations. 

There is required to put this scheme into practical opera- 
tion, in most of the stations and circuits, nothing more than 
some leading mind to call public attention to it, and to give 
direction in the early stages of the movement. There is, al- 
ready existing in most of our communities whatever of public 
spirit and available pecuniary resource may be necessary to 
the efficient and sustained prosecution of this enterprise; and 
it only requires some movement of organization and concert 
to embody them in suitable action. Let it be the recognized 
policy of the Church, adopted as such in her organic capacity, 
that the preachers in charge, under the direction of the pre- 
siding elder, shall be required, as a constituent part of their 
regular work, to make the necessary effort to originate these 
companies, and when their origination is secured, to lend 
their influence and cooperation to sustain their existence, and 
to give energy and success to their operations. Such a policy, 
vigorously prosecuted, will fulfil all the conditions necessary 
to secure the establishment and success of this book dissemi- 
nating scheme in well-nigh all our fields of labor. 

Succinctly stated, the advantages of this scheme are these : 
It will secure within the limits of each community, and there- 
fore at convenient points, a depository abundantly supplied 
with all the various books its wants require ; it will enlist the 
enterprise of the benevolent, whose cooperation will be a 
blessing to them and an accession to the effective force of 
the Church ; it will enable the preachers to cooperate in the 
plan, and that without personal pecuniary risk ; and it will 
constitute a systematic, efficient mode by which the Church 
may bring to bear directly her highest energies in the widest 
spread of a sanctified, improving literature. 

But in respect of those sections in which, from inability or 
indisposition, this scheme may not be employed, there is 
7 



146 PROGRESS. 

another method by which it is practicable for the Church to 
act with much efficiency in the dissemination of books, and 
that is, the sale of the books by the preachers themselves on 
their own responsibility — the terms of sale to them by the 
general Concern being so arranged that every possible facility 
and inducement will be afforded them to enter into and vigor- 
ously prosecute the business. This will be nothing more than 
a return to the old plan of book distribution, which was aban- 
doned in consequence of the removal of the necessary facilities, 
by the unfortunate course of the Northern Church. That 
plan, as then practiced, accomplished much. Indeed, most 
of the religious books now found in the libraries of Metho- 
dists were obtained under the operation of that plan. Since 
its abandonment, there has been comparatively little addition 
to the standard religious literature in the hands of the people. 
But by the offer of better terms to the preachers, which, under 
the scheme we propose, of publishing books exclusively with 
reference to circulation and not to income, would be entirely 
practicable, and by the adoption by the Church of all suitable 
methods to impress upon the ministry the great importance 
of book distribution, and the responsibility resting upon them 
to make it a constituent part of their plans of usefulness, this 
method might be rendered more than ever efficient — indeed, 
productive of results insuring the utmost success to the lite- 
rature function. 

But it is not merely by these plans for forcing the circula- 
tion of religious books, that the literature function is to be 
rendered in the highest degree available : to complete the work 
the same system and energy must be employed for extending 
the circulation of the periodical literature of the Church. It 
is plain that that circulation will greatly depend upon the 
practical effort made to secure it, and therefore upon the effi- 
ciency of the agents ramifying the country engaged in efforts 
to further it. The preachers, therefore, who in their fields of 



THE LITERATURE FUNCTION. 147 

labor do thus cover the entire limits of the country, might be 
made to constitute the most perfect system of agency for 
securing the circulation of the periodicals of the Church 
which it is possible to create. With this immense advantage 
thus afforded by our peculiar system of itinerancy, there is 
required but one condition, the hearty cooperation of the 
preachers to extend the circulation of our periodical literature 
to the utmost capacity of the country, and thereby to realize 
its fullest capabilities of usefulness. The proper use of the 
methods suggested for the distribution of books will itself, by 
the direction of the attention of the ministers generally to 
the value of the literature function, naturally tend to awaken 
their zeal in behalf of our periodicals, while the literary taste 
which will be cultivated by these books among the masses will 
awaken in them a spontaneous demand for this class of litera- 
ture. But, in addition, much may be done to stimulate the 
great body of the ministry to this required cooperation, by the 
constant avowal by the Church, in her organic capacity, of 
this system of cooperation as her recognized policy, impres- 
sing it thereby upon the preachers individually as a part of 
their regular work, and her adoption of all available methods 
to bring to bear her authority to insure on the part of the 
preachers the regular discharge of the duty. 

The Methodist Church, from her organization, has peculiar 
facilities for that concert of action — that harmonious and yet 
vigorous cooperation throughout her entire limits — necessary 
to insure everywhere the greatest activity of the literature 
function. A wise apprehension of the ends which it pro- 
poses and the adoption by the Church organically of well- 
arranged method are all that are necessary to obtain such aid, 
from machinery already existing, as will give the utmost prac- 
tical vigor everywhere to this cardinal instrumentality. In 
this day, when the further progress of the Church so much 



148 PROGRESS. 

demands it, when the efficient force of the Church may be 
so much augmented by it, and when the openings for its em- 
ployment are universally so abundant, the Church must arouse 
herself to its complete development. Indifference, neglect, is 
guilt, and, more fatal still, is ruinous. 



SECTION IV. 

THE ELEEMOSYNARY FUNCTION. 

There is another department of Church enterprise, which 
may be denominated the poor-helping, or eleemosynary func- 
tion, which has perhaps never been properly appreciated by 
the Church, but whose development, having now become 
practicable, is demanded, as well that she may fulfil her ap- 
pointed obligations, as that she may increase her capabilities 
for usefulness. 

Charity to the destitute, both as that signifies a feeling of 
kindness and that feeling developed in suitable action for their 
relief, is an essential feature, a constituent element, of the 
religion of the Bible. The Scriptures declare, "The poor 
shall never cease out of the land" — saying, "Thou shall 
open thy hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy 
needy in thy land." " Blessed is he that considereth the 
poor : the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble." " He 
that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker, but he that 
honoreth him hath mercy on the poor." " Is it not to deal 
thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that 
are cast out to thy house — when thou seest the naked that 
thou cover him, and that thou hide not thyself from thine 
own flesh?" Paul says, in reference to the wish of his 
brethren, "James, Cephas, and John," " only they would that 
we should remember the poor, the same which I also was 
forward to do." 

Our Saviour himself says, "when thou makest a feast, call 
the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and thou shalt be 

(149) 



150 PROGRESS. 

blessed ; for they cannot recompense thee, for thou shalt be 
recompensed at the resurrection of the just/' He also an- 
nounced it as a distinguishing characteristic of the gospel that 
the " poor have the gospel preached unto them." The spirit 
and principle thus inculcated through the Scriptures, and 
which our Saviour reiterated in his own teachings, he himself 
extensively practiced while among men, and thus afforded in 
his own example the highest proof that charity to the poor is 
an essential characteristic of Christianity. 

But if it be so, then it is evident that the Church, which 
is nothing more than an external organization for the develop- 
ment among men of what Christianity is, must in her ar- 
rangements not only recognize this element, but must bring 
to bear measures for its actual realization — in other words, that 
such action by the Church in her organic capacity as will con- 
tribute to its realization, must be regarded as a true and proper 
function of the Church. 

The atonement of Christ is so comprehensive in its con- 
nections with man, as that it interests him, not only in certain 
aspects of man, but in every aspect of him, whether physical 
or spiritual, whether of time or eternity. Physical sufferings, 
therefore, the destitution and bodily wretchedness of men, are 
objects of the commiseration of the Saviour, and fall within 
the scope of the blessed gospel, which he has provided for the 
relief of the human family ; and Christianity, which is but 
the spirit of Christ and of his gospel realized in the life of 
man, is a law of kindness in man to man, as well to their 
bodies as their souls, and exhibits itself in the world in kind 
ministrations to the real wants of the universal man, as well 
those which refer to his physical being as those which refer 
to his immortal soul. To restrict the energies of the Church, 
therefore, to the spiritual interests of the human family, is to 
fail to embrace, in its general scheme, a wide department of 
objects referred to and comprehended in the great scheme 



THE ELEEMOSYNARY FUNCTION. 151 

of the gospel. To minister to the destitute, to provide for 
the necessitous and helpless, is, in a fundamental sense, no 
less a function of the Church than that higher object of win- 
ning souls to Christ. 

Charity to the helpless is a dictate of true piety — an in- 
dispensable concomitant of a properly trained Christian ex- 
perience, which itself is convincing proof of its appointment, 
as a cardinal duty of Christianity, and, if it can be furthered 
by such policy, of the obligation of the Church in her organic 
capacity to assume the business of it. 

The Church of God is an institution of benevolence, hav- 
ing for its object the removal of human wretchedness and the 
promotion of human happiness; and it but accords with its 
genius — it is but in harmony with its spirit and aim — that 
it should be constituted the great agency of society to supply 
the requisite aid to the helpless. % 

But that charity to the poor is a function of the Church is 
still further evinced by other considerations. 

Such a specific direction of Church agency will, while it 
fulfills the important condition of meeting the physical wants 
of the needy, greatly contribute to that higher end, their 
moral elevation and salvation. This it will do in several ways. 
First, the relief afforded, and the kindness exhibited in ad- 
ministering it, will naturally turn the attention of the bene- 
ficiary to the cause of the Church, and inspire such a sense 
of obligation and of gratitude, that cannot fail to awaken in 
him convictions of the divinity and excellence of Christianity, 
and open a way to such direct appliances of the gospel, as 
will lead to an embracement of it, or, if already embraced, to 
a closer union with it. The pleasing aspect in which deeds 
of disinterested benevolence represent the Christian cause to 
persons already kindly disposed, by being themselves the ob- 
jects of them, will powerfully contribute to the strength of 
its influence over them. Such deeds of kindness bring the 



152 PROGRESS. 

objects of tliem in relations to the Church that secure to her 
a claim upon them and power over them, in the highest degree 
conservative of their virtue, and favorable to their salvation. 
Secondly, the fact of relief and liberation from the doubt and 
dreadful apprehension inseparable from a life of squalor — of 
elevation to freedom and hope — especially under the circum- 
stances of kindness and attention which have secured to them 
these blessings — is favorable to their moral improvement, to 
their turning themselves to those higher objects connected 
with their immortal interests. Thirdly, that zeal for the sal- 
vation of the race which true Christians always realize, but 
which will be specially felt and exercised in behalf of the 
poor, in these processes of ministration to their physical wants, 
will take advantage of the opportunities thus afforded to make 
many successful efforts for the moral improvement of this 
class. Christians, trained to charity to the poor, will soon feel 
that that charity is but designed to be subsidiary to the great 
end of the spiritual good of its objects, and the opportunities 
of access to and contact with this class, thus enjoyed, will be- 
come the occasions of earnest effort to supply the higher wants 
of the soul; and the influence they have gained by these 
deeds of charity will render them the instruments most likely 
to succeed in this higher, more glorious mission. The whole 
sphere of the moral interests of this class, thus coming under, 
in this fulfilment of the poor-helping function, the supervision 
of the Church, their moral state will be guarded, their im- 
provement will be nurtured and encouraged, and every faci- 
lity will be afforded for the enjoyment of such religious 
privileges as will in a high degree contribute to their moral 
stability and progress. 

Again : this direction of the energies of the Church will 
greatly contribute to her own subjective improvement. The 
performance of duty, and especially of duty like this, involv- 
ing self-denial and constancy of effort, will, in virtue of God's 



THE ELEEMOSYNARY FUNCTION. 153 

own economy, necessarily be the occasion reactively of divine 
favor and blessing. 

But it will open up a field for action, in which faith, and 
love, and zeal, and, in some sense, all the subjective graces 
of Christianity, may find freest exercise and opportuni- 
ties for expansion and enlargement. Here, by constant op- 
portunities for a contrast of condition, the heart receives daily 
lessons of humility, of dependence upon and obligations to 
God. Here it becomes impressed with the paltriness of earth, 
and feels the force of the truth, that there is nothing valuable 
but heaven. Here it learns to place a proper estimate upon 
earthly wealth, and the importance and manner of such use 
of it as contributes, not specifically to mere selfish gratifica- 
tion, but directly and intentionally to the glory of Grod. Here 
the heart is softened — is chastened — the affections are culti- 
vated, and all the finer sensibilities of the soul — the true 
basis of heart piety — are brought out and cherished. Here 
the spirit of usefulness is educated and strengthened, and the 
whole man is subjected to the control of the noblest aspira- 
tions of good to others. Self-denial is cultivated, an enlarged 
public spirit is nurtured, and benevolence becomes the pre- 
dominant trait of character. Indeed, in this field, the Church 
finds a school in which she may be educated to deadness to 
earth, and to increased devotion to spiritual things — to all 
those nobler aspirations of benevolence and usefulness which, 
while they are the occasions of her own constant improvement, 
insures yet greater efficiency and more rapid progress in every 
department of her enterprise. 

" The poor shall never cease out of the land." " The poor 
ye always have with you." The world, which was intended 
as a discipline for eternity, would, perhaps, be without one of 
the most important elements to constitute it such, if without 
the constant presence of the poor — so important are the rela- 
tions of the Church to this class for the proper growth of 
7* 



154 PROGRESS. 

many of those subjective graces which make up a symmetrical 
and complete Christian experience ; and it was with this refer- 
ence, doubtless, that that economy was intended to be fixed, 
in which the poor are continued a distinct and permanent 



Those Christians, the most distinguished for the fullness of 
their Christian experience, the completeness of their Christian 
character, and the power of their religious influence, have 
been specially marked for their charity to the poor ; and close 
examination would show that the training they received in 
this department of Christian exercise contributed much to 
the perfection attained. 

A system of charity suitably adapted to all classes of the 
needy, arranged by the Church, and practiced by Christians 
everywhere, will greatly increase the influence of the Church 
among those without her pales, and thereby her aggressive 
capabilities. This would be its necessary effect, because of 
the increased energy in her agencies, which its practical exe- 
cution implies. But more particularly, because, first, of the 
increased evidence of the divinity of Christianity, which this 
exhibition of it will afford; and, secondly, of the pleasing, 
attractive aspect in which it will represent Christianity to the 
world. 

It is no inconsiderable evidence of the fact, that the Church 
ought to assume the business of providing for the needy, that 
the general sense of all acquainted with the genius of Chris- 
tianity seems to assign this to her as one of her own proper 
functions, insomuch that failure in this department is generally 
regarded as an obvious inconsistency — an incongruity between 
theory and practice, which has operated to the hinderance of 
the Christian cause. 

The poor and needy, it is true, are not wholly neglected in 
our country. The asylums, hospitals, houses of refuge, the 
municipal regulations for the protection and assistance of 



THE ELEEMOSYNARY FUNCTION. 155 

these classes, the custom of almsgiving, all attest the exist- 
ence and the exercise of the principle of charity in American 
society. And though these external indications of this prin- 
ciple are independent of any immediate church agency, yet 
it is but fair to admit that they are indebted for their origin 
to the teachings of Christianity abroad among the people, and 
to the social progress which, through these teachings, has 
been achieved. Still, not being the immediate results of 
church operation — not arising avowedly out of Christianity 
as a part of its own scheme — they are attributed to the action 
of other agencies — they are credited to other influences ; and 
the Church loses all the direct advantages which these opera- 
tions of this principle are capable reflexively of conferring 
upon her, and in their stead experiences the consequences, in 
public estimation, which shortcoming and failure in these 
respects are calculated to entail upon her. Moreover, attri- 
butable as they are to influences developing themselves both 
accidentally and incidentally, and without any controlling 
organism to embody and concentrate them — aside from their 
inability to realize the religious results which Christianity 
contemplates through them — they cannot be conducted so 
efficiently and successfully, in view even of their temporal 
bearings, as when controlled and directed by the agency of 
the Church. 

It is not enough that the blind, the deaf and dumb, the 
insane, the orphan, and the destitute poor, have their physical 
wants supplied. If this were all, the State, or any mere 
secular association, would be a competent agency ; but these 
wants must be supplied in obedience to Christian dictation 
and sanction : they must be supplied with such reference and 
under such circumstances as make the occasion, directly upon 
those the objects of the beneficence, and indirectly upon 
others, one of religious blessing and benefit — a state of things 
only to be realized as the Church herself, through her own 



156 PROGRESS. 

instrumentalities, has the entire management of this busi- 



It has been the tardiness and failure of the Church that 
has necessitated the interposition of State authorities and 
individuals to provide for the wants of the needy. Such, 
however, is not a proper function of the State, and can only 
be justified by that necessity which the failure of the proper 
instrumentality has created. The interposition of State ac- 
tion in behalf of this class argues neglect and criminal short- 
coming by the Church. It is an abandonment by the 
Church — a relinquishment to others — of what properly 
belongs to herself — involving on her part, both a recreancy 
to duty and the loss of a powerful instrumentality of useful- 
ness. The Church cannot delegate, or allow silently to pass 
from herself to others, what properly is her own. Such a 
course, while it will always result in a less efficient execution 
of the function delegated, will be attended by loss and dimin- 
ished efficiency to the Church herself. 

Whatever, then, may be the capabilities of the State, or 
any mere secular combination for providing amply for all the 
physical wants of the needy, the Church cannot surrender the 
care of this class to such authorities. The State, made up as 
it is of the people, has really no more advantages for the crea- 
tion of the necessary fund for these objects than has the 
Church, supposing that the latter uses the necessary energy 
and zeal in the right education and direction of the people in 
behalf of these interests. Indeed, the right training of the 
people — which it would require, by suitable effort, no very 
protracted period to secure — would elevate them to a position 
of liberality, in which their own voluntary offerings would be 
a never-failing supply of all that is necessary to sustain every 
agency for the relief of the unfortunate. So that, while, on 
the plan of the Church, all that the State can accomplish will 
be realized, it would be attended by advantages of religious 



THE ELEEMOSYNARY FUNCTION. 157 

benefit to all classes, which the operations of the State will 
totally fail to compass. 

While, therefore, we pretend not to say, that in the absence 
of suitable and sufficient action by the Church to meet the 
wants of this class, it is not right for the State, or any other 
agency, to seek, as far as its functions will allow, to supply 
that action ; yet it is an unwise policy, both as to the duty of 
the Church in the premises, the interest of Christianity, and 
the manner in which the object itself is accomplished, to rely 
upon any other than Church and Christian agency in general. 
to dispense the charities needed by society. The Church 
herself should assume the exclusive management of the poor, 
as one of her legitimate functions, and never cease in the ex- 
tension of her efforts, until, having embraced in the sphere of 
her operations every object of charity, she has thoroughly 
monopolized this department of benevolence and usefulness. 

Assuming, then, the care of the needy and destitute to be 
a proper function of the Church, its right development im- 
plies several things. 

1. The establishment and maintenance of as many institu- 
tions for the insane, the blind, the deaf and dumb, and all 
who from physical deformity and imperfection especially need 
the charity of the public, as these classes require for their 
suitable care and protection. In many of the States there 
are institutions of these kinds, established by the munificence 
of individual Christians, and conducted under Christian 
auspices. But these ought to be so far multiplied as to em- 
brace all of these classes existing in the country. This can 
be done, if suitable interest be felt, and proper action be 
taken by the general Church. The same feeling which in 
these cultivated Christians prompted the establishment of 
these could, by suitable Church action, be infused generally, 
and made to exhibit itself in such combined, concentrated 



158 PROGRESS. 

power as would soon result in such provision for these classes 
as their numbers and wants require. 

But it is not enough that these institutions be established 
in sufficient numbers: suitable exertion must be made to 
gather in these unfortunate ones from all parts of the coun- 
try, that all everywhere may share their blessings. The 
Church will enjoy peculiar advantages for doing this, for the 
zeal in behalf of this object which right education will 
awaken will prompt the membership everywhere to right 
effort, while, diffused in every precinct of the land, they will 
have every opportunity for the practical execution of that 
effort in finding out and sending up to these institutions every 
subject embraced within their design. Moreover, founded 
and conducted under Christian auspices, these institutions 
will enjoy a degree of public confidence of which they would 
be destitute under any other agency, and which itself would 
be well calculated to induce the patronage of the whole 
country. There is a prejudice among many — a want of 
hearty cooperation among the public — in reference to all 
enterprises of this kind, conducted by the State, which will 
ever disqualify them for accomplishing the entire purpose of 
their design. Indeed, there is a want of public sympathy in 
their behalf, of appreciation of and satisfaction with them, 
when sustained by the State, which is not experienced when 
conducted by the Church — which, while it shows that the 
Church can make these more useful, demonstrates that not 
the State, but the Church is the proper authority for the 
establishment and maintenance of these institutions. 

Let the Church, then, commit herself, by her own formal 
enactments, to the duty of assuming a suitable provision for 
these unfortunate classes, and direct her organic energies to 
the right education of the membership in respect to it. Such 
a course, at no distant period, would result in such enlist- 



THE ELEEMOSYNARY FUNCTION. 159 

ment of general attention to these interests, as would secure, 
under the superintendence of the Church, all the provision 
the country demands. 

2. Some general system of action for the protection and 
right rearing of helpless orphans. In almost all communi- 
ties, and especially in our cities, children are to be found 
who, by the death of parents, are destitute of the means of 
support ; or, if not entirely, are without such guardianship as 
is necessary for their right rearing, What Christian heart, 
of right views and sympathies, has not been deeply moved at 
the spectacle presented by the condition of these, as thus 
found in almost every neighborhood of the land ? Much of 
the crime perpetrated in community originates among those 
who, in the period of their rearing, belonged to this unfor- 
tunate class, and from it have sprung those who constitute 
the most vile and debased of society. Not merely Christian 
sympathy, therefore, but those great objects, the prevention 
of crime and the moral improvement of society, demand such 
provision for them as will meet their physical wants and 
insure their right moral training. 

Every circuit or station ought to feel itself, under the 
general superintendence of its pastors, bound to seek out and 
provide for such of this class as are within its own limits. It 
might, through its quarterly conference, have a standing 
committee, who should assume the general management of 
this business, conducting it on a plan embracing two general 
features : First, the obtaining for these orphans, in those 
cases whose circumstances called for it, homes in suitable 
families, on such terms as will insure their comfortable sup- 
port and proper training. In respect of a large class of .these 
orphans, this would be the most desirable and practicable 
scheme. It is one in which there would be required no 
pecuniary outlay, and which, too, would meet all the condi- 
tions involved. It is one, moreover, which requires for its 



160 PROGRESS. 

practical execution nothing more than the earnest agency of 
leading men in the community — which condition the organ- 
ization indicated would precisely fulfill. Second, the supply 
of such means of protection and support to the remaining 
class, whose circumstances would not make proper their dis- 
tribution among families, as are necessary to save them from 
suffering and from degradation — these means to be obtained 
by the voluntary contributions of the people, under a well- 
digested and judiciously conducted system of revenue for 
this praiseworthy purpose. In some of our cities, orphan 
asylums have been established by individual munificence. 
These are proper enough, especially in the larger cities, 
where the claims of this class are more numerous and press- 
ing. They should, however, be used merely as places of tem- 
porary residence for these unfortunate ones — as mere places 
of rendezvous, whence, under this system of distribution, they 
should be taken as soon as circumstances allow, and, under 
the direction of Church agencies, placed out in suitable pri- 
vate families to be trained and educated. These establish- 
ments might be multiplied. This, however, is hardly to be 
expected, except as enlightened and liberal individual enter- 
prise may prompt to their foundation, instances of which 
would be much more frequent than in the past, under that 
more enlightened state of public opinion, which would ensue 
from this development by the Church of her eleemosynary 
function, upon which we so earnestly insist. 

3. Some system of action by which the physical wants of 
the destitute poor, not included in the classes before speci- 
fied, might be so far met as to save them from the ills of 
positive suffering and degradation. In our country, where 
the means of comfortable livelihood are so abundant, there 
are, perhaps, none, of good health and sound mind, who 
are properly objects of charity. That class of strolling 
beggars, of both sexes, who have robust health and ample 



THE ELEEMOSYNARY FUNCTION. 161 

ability, by devoting themselves to some industrial pursuit, to 
maintain themselves, have no claims upon the charity of the 
public, and ought, by finding no favor of this kind, to be 
forced to some more honorable vocation. But still, even in 
our own highly favored country, and especially in our larger 
cities, there are to be found many widows, many infirm from 
age or feeble health, who, unable to support themselves, are 
properly objects of charity. These are scattered in almost 
every community, and the Church, to meet her obligations 
to the poor, must develop her system to provide for them. 

Every Methodist society should organize itself into an 
association for the support of this class of the poor, within 
its particular limits. It should be the privilege of any mem- 
ber to report any case of destitution, at any regular meeting 
of the society; and it should then be determined, by major- 
ity vote, whether such person or persons should be placed 
upon the list to be supplied by charity, and also how much 
should be appropriated, and the manner of the appropriation. 
If the general society be too unwieldy for these details, they 
might be intrusted to a committee, under its general super- 
vision. The means thus appropriated should be raised hy 
voluntary contributions : in the first place, from the society 
itself. Most usually, in our country, especially outside of our 
cities, the number of these charity objects is so small, and 
the supply needed is so limited, that, without a heavy burden 
of tax, each society may support within itself its own poor 
But where the burden is so heavy, because of the poverty of 
the membership, or the relative amount of the destitution 
existing, that the society itself is unable to bear it, it might 
be a regulation to appeal at stated periods for help to the 
public congregation : the earnest given by the society of its 
own liberality, and the general direction of public attention to 
the claims of the poor, by this declared policy of the Church, 
being well calculated to enlist the cooperation of the entire 



162 PROGRESS. 

community, such appeal would not be in vain. But since, in 
those neighborhoods where this charity class is most nume- 
rous, there is generally least ability in the membership to 
meet this demand, it might be a further regulation of each 
circuit, under the direction of the quarterly conference, that 
collections should be taken up in all the societies, to be 
appropriated to the assistance of those societies thus heavily 
taxed, so that by bringing the wealthier societies to the aid 
of the weaker, an equality would exist among all in the 
burden involved, and the poor in all parts of the circuit would 
be assured of relief and comfort. 

This system, in addition to the advantages it secures to 
the Church reflexively, and the benefit it confers directly 
upon the poor, has this to recommend it : it applies not 
generally so that in its operation it necessarily embraces 
many of the unworthy, as is the case unavoidably with all 
plans conducted by the State, whereby poverty is rewarded 
and idleness encouraged ; but it is a discriminating scheme, 
applying itself specifically only, causing every case to be 
scrutinized, guarding thereby against imposition, and exclud- 
ing from the list of the aided all others but such as truly 
have need of charity. 

4. Such methods of social intercourse as develop those 
amenities and kindly offices toward the poor generally, that 
are so well calculated to ameliorate their condition, to stimu- 
late them to improvement, and to diffuse happiness among 
them. First, by visiting them, and ministering to their wants 
in sickness. In this association, into which we propose each 
society shall organize itself, to provide for its poor, it might 
be a regulation that, at every meeting, the question should 
be asked, Who are sick ? The information, given in response, 
would enable each member to know at any time who are sick 
in his neighborhood, and by adopting a rule formally recog- 
nizing the duty of each and all to visit the sick, the habit 



THE ELEEMOSYNARY JUNCTION. 163 

might be cultivated, under the pressure of enlightened con- 
science, of discharging this duty, especially among the poor 
— the class most needing comfort and assistance in such con- 
dition. A regulation might exist, providing in extreme 
cases, for an appropriation to the sick poor, such as would be 
required to meet pressing exigencies. There are associations, 
outside the Church, in which these regulations for visiting 
and providing for the poor in seasons of sickness are car- 
dinal features. The practicability of the scheme is thus de- 
monstrated. Let not the Church suffer any longer the re- 
proach of being excelled, in this great principle of practical 
Christianity, by human associations. Let not the Church 
allow herself to be a practical exemplification of the truth of 
the charge, that the children of this world are wiser in 
their generation than the children of light. Secondly, 
by giving, as often as possible, a practical exhibition of a 
willingness to further them in business, and to encourage 
them in laudable efforts to rear their children, and to im- 
prove their general condition. Thirdly, by such kind atten- 
tions and gentle demeanor in all social intercourse as will 
win their confidence, encourage their self-respect, and stimu- 
late them to good conduct and honorable aims. The poor are 
often by their circumstances — by defeat and disappointment 
— discouraged, despondent. How much would a kind word, 
an encouraging look, a friendly act, from the elevated and the 
good, contribute to relieve their despair, to inspire with hope, 
and to urge to renewed exertion. The influential and the 
good know not how their indifference often blights the hopes 
and energies of the poor ; or how kindness and encourage- 
ment, as manifested in the cheap and easy form of the 
mere manner of social intercourse, would tend to dissipate 
despair, and to animate to enterprise and effort. Christians 
may do much to elevate and relieve, in the mere manner of 



164 PROGRESS. 

their intercourse with them; and a form of usefulness, so 
easy and cheap, they are bound to take pains to employ. 

Attention thus shown, kindness thus manifested, by Chris- 
tians, and with Christian views, will be appreciated, and will 
contribute more, perhaps, to win this class to religion than 
would any other instrumentality. Such a course opens up a 
way of access to the affections' — it insures gratitude and 
confidence, that will give to Christians an influence over them 
which will almost certainly result in their yielding to the 
dominion of Christianity. Out of the social relations of life, 
therefore, there may be derived instrumentalities of benefit 
to this class which the Christian Church has never appre- 
ciated, but which the important objects of the Church, as 
well as imperative obligation, require to be at once em- 
ployed. 

It was the design of Mr. Wesley that the class-meeting 
system should constitute an organization through which the 
Church should execute her obligations of charity to the 
poor. In the original constitution of that system, Metho- 
dism recognized the poor-helping function, and sought a 
suitable provision for its practical development. But, in 
the purely spiritual aims of the Church, to which Method- 
ism soon came to consecrate itself exclusively, this great 
feature of the class-meeting system was practically lost 
sight of and in a great degree abandoned. There can be no 
doubt that there is an adaptation in this system to all the 
purposes of machinery for the dispensation of the practical 
charities of the Church that is truly admirable, and that ex- 
hibits the wisdom of Mr. Wesley, in the great work of Church 
organization, in an eminent degree. The times and the de- 
mands of usefulness call for a restoration to the class-meeting 
system of this cardinal feature of its original constitution. 
This done, under wise and efficient management, the chief 



THE ELEEMOSYNARY FUNCTION. 165 

conditions of the Church's eleemosynary function will be 
fulfilled 

5. The bestowment upon poor youth of uncommon merit 
of the opportunities for obtaining liberal education. The im- 
portance of this course of action to the highest efficiency of 
the educational function has already been stated; but the 
obligations to it arise more immediately out of the nature of 
the Church's eleemosynary function. Many poor youth 
there are, of endowments which need only the cultivation of 
liberal education, to render them capable of highest useful- 
ness. How easy would it be for those in independent pecu- 
niary circumstances, either singly or in association, to advance 
to these youth the requisite funds to obtain their education in 
our colleges, on the condition stipulated, if desired, that when 
their course was completed, they should, by devoting them- 
selves to some useful employment — teaching for example — 
refund the amount thus advanced. Such acts of benevolence 
would confer a benefit upon those the objects of them, of 
inestimable value : they would operate as a motive among 
the youth of the poor to meritorious conduct, that thereby 
they might recommend themselves to the confidence of the 
good : they would multiply the number of educated men in 
the country; and, more important still, they would secure 
additions to the educated talent employed in the ministry or 
in highly useful pursuits, and they will be an outlet through 
which the faith, the love, and zeal of the benevolent may 
find enlargement and expansion, contributing to religious 
growth and to the production of right Christian character. 

Already has the Church, in some few instances, begun to de- 
velop this feature of the eleemosynary function. In some 
places it has been attempted by associations, chiefly of 
benevolent females, who have desired to make themselves 
useful to the Church and society. In perhaps all our Me- 
thodist colleges there are to be found, all the time, young 



166 PROGRESS. 

men who are receiving their education through the voluntary 
aid of the benevolent. All over the land now are to be found 
those who were thus educated ; and, perhaps without excep- 
tion, they are honorable men, and devoted to useful employ- 
ments. Many of them are actively engaged in the ministry, 
and others prominent as useful and highly respectable citizens. 
Indeed, it may be safely affirmed, that experience thus far 
demonstrates that those thus educated almost invariably 
make the most enterprising, laborious, and useful men which 
our country affords. Here, then, is presented a field for use- 
fulness to which the men of means in our Church are ur- 
gently invited — one, in which, while wealth may be employed 
most usefully, benevolence may find the largest room for 
exercise, piety may enjoy the richest privileges for enlarge- 
ment and growth, and the country and the Church be most 
efficiently served ; yet there is no loss, even in a pecuniary 
sense, to any one. Here capital maybe so invested, as that, 
while it subserves the purposes of Heaven — harmonizes with 
the designs of God as to its use — it is yet profitable to the 
owner, as to both worlds, paying back, in kind, and making 
the owner safe pecuniarily, and laying up for him immortal 
treasure in heaven. 

A proper development of the eleemosynary function is 
based upon the right education of the individual conscience 
among the masses. No mere system of external machinery, 
no mere outward organization, will suffice to secure the result, 
unless they are founded upon and sustained by a broad prin- 
ciple of enlightened benevolence, universally diffused among 
the people. While, therefore, we recommend the adoption 
by the Church, in its organic capacity, of the proper external 
machinery for the execution of this function, yet we suggest, 
as necessary to give movement and efficiency to this, the use 
of the pulpit and press, and every other agency calculated to 
enlighten and educate the public mind and secure its own 



THE ELEEMOSYNARY FUNCTION. 167 

spontaneous cooperation in behalf of the entire sphere of 
these duties to the poor. The action of the Church, in hei 
organic capacity, going forth as an expression of the highest 
authority in favor of this policy, will itself be light which, by 
gradually diffusing itself among the masses, will contribute 
much to the general cultivation of right views and sentiments. 
The Church, therefore, can have no option in this matter, but, 
as well that she may set in motion this system of machinery, 
as that she may secure these important results of general en- 
lightenment, she is bound to take at once prompt and decisive 
action. 

So indifferent has the Church in her organic capacity been 
in the past, in respect of this great department of duty, and 
so limitedly has the mind of the masses been directed to it, 
so comprehensive is the system of action necessary to its right 
occupancy, that we cannot hope, under the most auspicious 
beginning, for a speedy full development of this function. 
We can only hope, for the present, to give organization and 
form to the movement — to provide and bring into action such 
influences as will give motion to the Church in that direction — 
leaving it to time and the energetic action of these agencies 
gradually to discipline the Church to a full discharge of her 
duties to the poor. 



SECTION V. 

THE MISSIONARY FUNCTION. 

Missionary as is the spirit of Christianity and the grand 
design of the Christian Church, the comparatively recent 
period at which the Church began to recognize and respond 
to the claims of missions, and the inadequacy of the effort 
even now contributed, both in respect of the resources of the 
Church and the demands of the world, might, to a superficial 
observer, seem inexplicable, yet it requires for its explanation 
no admission incompatible with missionary obligation, with 
the completeness of the gospel system, or with the efficiency 
of the Most High in the accomplishment of his sacred pur- 
poses. It is a trained, overflowing piety, which originates and 
sustains an actual sense of missionary obligations ; and the 
energies of the Christian system had first to employ them- 
selves in the inculcation of rudiments, in the settlement of 
preliminaries, and the reduction of masses to the sway of car- 
dinal truth, before these, the ripe fruits of right education 
and experience, could be realized. The missionary spirit is 
but the resultant of all the forces of Christianity, in full ac- 
tivity and tension, and it is not, therefore, until truth in its 
amplitude and entireness is allowed its own unobstructed in- 
fluence, that this its last, highest development is exhibited. 

The seventeenth century marks the beginning of the transi- 
tion of the Church from her pupilage, her rudimental career, 
into that fullness of enjoyment and activity, the essential pre- 
requisite of missionary enterprise — a transition which has 
ever since been going on, and is still incomplete. The efforts 

(168) 



THE MISSIONARY FUNCTION. 169 

of the Roman Catholics, previous to that era, were but a 
species of propagandising the result of a corrupt ambition to 
extend the limits of power. But it was at that period that 
the great principles of the gospel which Protestantism had 
revived and re-proclaimed, having found in some instances a 
cordial embracement, began to develop the true missionary 
spirit. England, so long the bulwark of the religion of the 
Bible, and the centre of those enterprises which have so 
gloriously advanced, in all quarters of the globe, the empire 
of evangelical religion, first felt the impulse of this heaven- 
born principle. America, which, in the Puritans, became 
the home of some of her best population, soon began to ex- 
hibit the same blessed fruit. But it was rather by isolated 
individuals, and upon individual responsibility, that this im- 
portant feature of Christianity was, for a long series of years, 
recognized and practically exhibited. The intractable ele- 
ments of the body of the Church had not yet yielded to the 
sway of the simple truths of the gospel. The leaven of those 
soul-consecrating principles, which alone bear the fruit of a 
true missionary spirit, had not yet penetrated the Christian 
masses. And if "Wesleyan Methodism be excepted — whose 
organization, in constitution and practical operation, is essen- 
tially missionary — it was not until the closing years of the 
eighteenth century in Great Britain, and the beginning of 
the nineteenth in America, that the missionary enterprise 
began to embody itself in organized effort, and the combined 
energies of masses to be enlisted in this great cause. 

But the day of general awakening to these interests, at 
last, begins to dawn. The cycles of the gospel have been, it 
is true, slow in their revolutions. But the long season of 
preparation is fast passing away. And though enough has 
been accomplished already to exhibit the potency and success 
of the missionary enterprise, yet the prospects of the future 
may be measured no longer by the triumphs of the past. 
8 



170 PROGRESS. 

The mind of the Christian masses has been aroused, and by 
positive intent brought immediately into contact with the 
high and pressing claims of missions. The principles of 
spiritual Christianity, which, by their own spontaneous, ag- 
gressive influence, are destined ever to evolve themselves in 
increasing range and power, are, at last, finding access to the 
hearts of the people. Henceforth, therefore, there is to be 
no retrogression; but the conditions upon which rest the 
realization and manifestation of missionary tendencies must 
become gradually more universal and complete, rendering 
every succeeding step, in the Church's onward march, but 
the opening and auxiliary to yet wider efforts and more 
glorious triumphs. 

The obligations of Christians to be constant, earnest in- 
struments in the propagation of the gospel by missionary 
enterprise, are universal and imperative ; and it is the adapta- 
tion of the age to their right apprehension and fulfillment 
that constitutes a ground of belief of a speedy entrance 
upon a sphere of action commensurate with their high de- 
mands. 

The gospel proposes its own gradual prevalence over all 
mankind; and it has provided that those who enjoy it, shall 
be the instruments to accomplish this end. There may be 
incidental methods which G-od in his kindness may employ 
as so many auxiliaries in the furtherance of his merciful pur- 
pose, but it is this law and mode of diffusion he has adopted 
and specifically constituted an integral part of his gracious 
economy. In all departments, he has chosen to accomplish 
his ends by the use of means, rather than by the spontaneous 
exertion of arbitrary power ) and in this he has not departed 
from the same general plan. What though human philosophy 
may suggest methods by which God, in his infinitude, might 
realize his gracious purposes without human agency, and 
speculate upon the potency of instrumentalities which man 



THE MISSIONARY FUNCTION. 171 

himself might substitute for his own immediate agency? — > 
these can have no relevancy to the great interests involved. 
The economy of God is fixed : its demands are unalterable. 
Tne whole world must have the gospel j but it is to be con- 
veyed to them by those by whom it has been embraced. 

By specific appointment, therefore, the obligation to pro- 
mote missionary operations is a cardinal feature of the Christian 
system, and is as imperious, consequently, as God's own au- 
thority. 

But this obligation is heightened, if possible, still further, 
by the important relation it sustains to the economy of God 
and the success of his plans — to those cherished purposes, in 
reference to the triumphs of the Redeemer, in which the 
Godhead is so much interested, and to the fulfilment of which 
it is fully committed. 

Nor is this responsibility of a nature to devolve upon 
Christians in the aggregate merely, and which individuals 
may shun without detriment to personal religion. It is 
blended essentially with the very substance of Christianity, 
and its assumption, in all advanced communities, is a con- 
dition both to the embracement and the maintenance of the 
religion of Christ. Indeed, so important, in the estimate of 
God, is the salvation of the whole world, that, dependent as 
it is upon human instrumentality to contribute to its promo- 
tion, it is, in some sort, the object for which men are con- 
verted. Individual importance is absorbed in the vastness of 
the results, to the achievement of which the gospel is com- 
mitted ; and in dispensing salvation to individuals, God has 
primarily in view an increase of instruments for the fulfill- 
ment of the great purpose of diffusion. Nor is it surprising, 
since the fate of the gospel is thus dependent, in an impor- 
tant sense, upon those who enjoy it, that God should make 
sure its final triumph, by giving to the obligation of diffusion 



172 PROGRESS. 

the greatest possible strength, even that of constituting it the 
essence and condition of piety. 

But the magnitude of the consequences which depend 
upon the faithful execution of the duty with which Christians 
are thus charged, cannot fail to press upon every reflecting 
mind with all the weight and sacredness of a most solemn 
obligation. 

Hundreds of millions of immortal souls, around us and in 
the distance, lie in utter ignorance of the truths and blessings 
of the gospel. Of those advantages to which we are indebted 
for all our enjoyments and hopes, and in exchange for which 
the universe could afford us no recompense, they know no- 
thing. Not merely are they destitute of all that is saving, 
they are the slaves of forms of religion, themselves the most 
debasing, which not only sanction and encourage, but propa- 
gate vices and customs the most degrading and miserable. 
Without the knowledge or the means to secure the blessings 
of this world even, they are, in intellectual manifestation, 
but little removed from the beasts of the forest, and, in re- 
gard to all the elements of happiness, are more degraded 
and wretched than they. 

This vast population, thus miserable, (for whom the gospel 
would do so much, both in time and eternity, who need only 
the gospel to elevate them to equality with the most favored 
classes, but who, without it, are doomed to remain thus de- 
graded,) are dependent for the gospel, according to God's 
own appointment, upon the efforts of Christians. How awful 
the responsibility ! Who can feel that he has met the com- 
mon claims of humanity, unless he is employing his utmost 
capabilities for the rescue of those thus dependent and help- 
less ? especially as these are his fellow-men, sprung from the 
same original stock, and as his condition might have been 
reversed; when his fate would, in like manner, have been 



THE MISSIONARY FUNCTION. 173 

dependent upon others ? Who would not he scouted as un- 
worthy the name of a man, who would refuse, or be indiffer- 
ent, to save a fellow-man from impending destruction ? How 
strong, then, must be the obligation to use the effort to save, 
when, instead of one, millions are involved — when it is the 
only appointed means of safety, and when the salvation is not 
in respect merely of time, but of eternity itself ! Indeed, 
when the vast and awful consequences which thus hang 
upon the will of Christians, are properly weighed, every feel- 
ing of benevolence, every dictate of reason and conscience, 
so stir and animate the whole man, that the propagation 
of the gospel, the salvation of men, must be the all-absorb- 
ing theme of the mind, and the great central business of 
the life. 

Such being the relation which Christians sustain to the 
destitute world, how can he, who has been indifferent to the 
spread of the gospel, and has failed to exercise, in the promo- 
tion of that end, his utmost capabilities, feel, when he shall 
meet at the great judgment, the millions who shall have died 
in ignorance of Christ ? How can he bear their reproaches ? 
How can he feel uncondemned, when he is conscious that 
many have perished through his supineness ? How can he 
meet his God, having manifested so little loyalty to his cause, 
so little concern for the triumph of his Redeemer ? These 
millions, thus destitute, are beings for whom Christ died, and 
for whom he is ever concerned. His relation, therefore, to 
Christ, as his leader, his professed love for him, allow of no- 
thing short of his constant and most earnest efforts for the 
salvation of mankind. The honor and glory of Christ's king- 
dom are dependent upon its progress and triumphs. The 
Christian, therefore, is unfaithful to his Saviour, unless he is 
constantly making, earnestly and to the utmost, every effort 
that will contribute to that end. 

To do good — to be in the highest sense instrumental in 



174 PROGRESS, 

the salvation of men— is the legitimate impulse, the proper 
fruit of a true personal Christianity. 

There may be in men a degree of selfishness in regard to 
most of the blessings of life — an aversion, more or less strong, 
to their diffusion — lest their own chances for self-gratifica- 
tion may be diminished, or their importance reduced. But 
in the Christian religion no such exclusive, degraded spirit- 
exists. The fountain of supply is felt to be inexhaustible. 
No one feels that an extension of its blessings diminishes his 
enjoyment, or injures, in any wise, his position or prospects. 
Indeed, in the instance of Christianity, self-love, contrary to 
its usual action, delights in the diffusion of every blessing, and 
is the most gratified according as others are most elevated 
and happy. Such is its nature, that it is most fed and in- 
dulged in the processes of the extension of Christianity. 
Revival, missionary success, onward progress in the empire 
of Christendom, is the element in which it best lives, and in 
which it has most conscious enjoyment. As religion flour- 
ishes, as the powers of darkness recede, and people give in 
their adhesion to Christ, so Christians experience a conscious 
security, elevation, and hope. Hence their own happiness 
and prospects, in important particulars, are always in direct 
correspondence with the extent of missionary operations. The 
principle of self-love, therefore, as it exists in Christian ex- 
perience, naturally leads to missionary effort. 

Gratitude to God is a profound, ever active emotion of the 
Christian's heart. Under its influence, the constant impulse 
is to do all in his power to requite the goodness of his bene- 
factor. The furtherance of the cause of God around him, 
and among distant people, is the field that naturally presents 
itself for the gratification of this holy feeling. Hence, to de- 
vote himself, personally, when practicable — and, at all times, 
his means and influence — to the propagation of the gospel, is 
his loved and genial employment. 



THE MISSIONARY FUNCTION. 175 

Love for his Saviour, and a consequent alliance with his 
fortunes, plans, and purposes, is another essential character- 
istic of the Christian. Hence, the salvation of mankind, 
being the object of the Saviour's advent, of his intense de- 
sire now, and upon which his honor and glory are staked, the 
Christian is constrained, by every affection of his nature, to 
devote himself to this object, and, as the natural prompting 
of his heart, labors for the spread of the gospel. 

The moral nature which the gospel contemplates, implies 
such intense abhorrence of the powers of darkness, and such 
fervid approbation of all that is pure and holy, that indiffer- 
ence or passivity in regard to those movements which give 
impulse and progress to the interests of religion is utterly 
unnatural, and the soul suffers violence, unless ardently en- 
gaged in doing the utmost possible good. 

Recognizing himself as but a sojourner in this scene of ex- 
istence, and alive only to the invisible glories and attractions 
of heaven, the Christian supremely desires to lay up treasure 
there. Thus feeling, what manner of life, what field of action, 
suits him so well as the extension of the interests of his Divine 
Master ? In this employment only he is conscious of doing 
something in pursuance of his controlling aspirations. His 
joy, faith, and hope hold him in perpetual contact with the 
interests of heaven, and the sphere of usefulness is his only 
genial element. 

But if the elements of Christian experience, taken sepa- 
rately, would each develop a missionary spirit, much more 
effectually does this result follow from the actual combination 
of all these elements. Whenever, therefore, Christianity is 
not trammelled or enfeebled in its influence by the want of 
right knowledge — whenever it is allowed, in the symmetry, 
harmony, and strength of its own principles, to develop itself 
in the life — missionary enterprise, in all its energy and univer- 
sality, is its legitimate and necessary fruit. But, if so, then 



176 PROGRESS. 

it must constitute an essential part of Christianity, and conse- 
quently be of binding obligation upon every Christian. 

But the obligation of every Christian to contribute, with 
all his ability, to the diffusion of the Grospel throughout the 
world, is still further seen in the fact that Grod has made it 
his privilege to render effective aid toward the accomplishment 
of that end. 

The gospel, the naked, unaided gospel, is the immediate 
instrument by which the salvation of men is secured. Ac- 
companied as it is by an indwelling divine energy, it, if it 
only have access to men of sufficient mental elevation to un- 
derstand it, will make advances, and every step of its progress 
will be the means of yet more rapid strides, and more glorious 
successes. But this gospel, thus so well adapted when 
brought into contact with men to secure its saving results, it 
is practicable to carry everywhere, into all lands, and among 
all people. With the men who might be employed as its 
immediate bearers, and the facilities that might be afforded 
for their support if all Christians properly appreciated their 
responsibilities, the entire world might soon receive its light. 
With this engine of salvation, under its law of a rapidly pro- 
gressive increase of aggressive force with every step of its 
advancement, if all Christians were to exert their utmost 
strength in giving efficacy and extension to missionary opera- 
tions, the work of the world's redemption would not only 
triumphantly move onward, but soon find its consummation 
in the splendors of the millennial day. 

But there are collateral agencies which Christians might 
employ, both to prepare the way for the more complete success 
of the gospel and to sustain and give efficiency to the re- 
deeming influences which it establishes. Organizations for 
partial reformation and elevation — establishments for the 
dissemination of ameliorating influences, and for the protec- 
tion of the poor and wretched — a thoughtful, judicious em- 



THE MISSIONARY FUNCTION. 177 

ploynient of the agencies of commerce, of colonization, of 
international relationships and capabilities — all might be 
brought under requisition and made subservient to the spread 
of the gospel of Christ. 

The glorious results which have already followed missionary 
efforts, in various portions of the earth, are themselves con- 
clusive evidence of the capabilities of Christians for successful 
effort in the spread of the gospel. 

The rapid success of Methodism in extending itself, in an 
organized form, through well-nigh the whole territorial extent 
of Great Britain, the Canadas, and the United States, has 
been the fruit mainly of missionary enterprise. The earliest 
movements of Methodism, in each of these countries, were 
purely missionary ; and assuming an organization with direct 
reference to missionary operation, by a constant and judicious 
employment of men and means, in new and unappropriated 
fields, incorporating each into the regular system, and making 
it in turn tributary to the work of aggression, according as 
it became capable of self-support, it has gradually widened 
the limits of its jurisdiction, and increased the number of fol- 
lowers, until now, chiefly through this great agency, it has 
become the most powerful and extensive of all the Protestant 
denominations. Indeed, unpatronized by the great, and op- 
posed by all the world, with the humble instrumentalities she 
at first employed, it can hardly be believed that, without the 
missionary feature of her organization, she would have had a 
name in the records of history. It was to illustrate the 
efficiency of the missionary principle, and to secure a system 
of judicious effort to convey the gospel to the world, that 
constituted, doubtless, a principal design of Providence in 
bringing her into existence. 

Belgium, a few years ago, had not in all her realm a single 
Protestant minister. Now she numbers more than a thousand, 
while the membership of the various Protestant Churches 
8* 



178 PROGRESS. 

consists of many thousands — all of which has been the result 
of missionary effort. 

France and Italy and Germany and Sweden — and, indeed, 
most of the kingdoms of Europe — are witnesses to the suc- 
cess which awaits properly directed missionary exertion. In 
despite of all the prejudices of superstition, and the counter- 
machinations of a powerful priesthood, the leaven of evan- 
gelical religion, which by missionary zeal has been silently 
and unobtrusively infused into different parts of those countries, 
is gradually penetrating the masses, and originating influences 
that are destined to work out the most glorious results. Indeed, 
some of those results have already begun to exhibit themselves, 
especially in Italy and France, where the signs are not want- 
ing of ameliorations and changes the most inspiring to the 
Christian. 

In Asia, Africa, and South America, under the most un- 
favorable circumstances, something has been effected towards 
the evangelization of the heathen — furnishing incontestable 
proof that it is G-od's purpose to give efficiency and success to 
missionary labors. 

In some of the Islands, many most glorious achievements 
of missionary enterprise have been accomplished. The Sand- 
wich Islands, embracing a population of more than a hundred 
thousand, since 1820, when the first mission was established, 
have been transformed into a Christian nation, abounding in 
the arts of civilized life, and adhering to the forms of evan- 
gelical Christianity. Many other groups have likewise been 
the scene of missionary triumphs, demonstrating the potency 
and success, in the spread of Christianity, of the missionary 
principle. 

But if Christians, each and all, may be instrumental in 

spreading the light of Christianity over the world : if they 

. have but to put forth their effort, when men everywhere will 

be savingly redeemed : if the experience of the past demon- 



THE MISSIONARY FUNCTION. 179 

strates the practicability of highest success in the great work 
of the universal diffusion of Christianity by human instru- 
mentality — is it not demonstrable that the duty to devote 
themselves, at all times, and at every practicable place, to the 
spread of the gospel, is clear and imperative ? To refuse to 
do so would argue the absence of every noble, generous im- 
pulse — it would be cruelty j and, worse still, it.would be the 
renunciation of all allegiance to God's name and authority. 
There can be, therefore, no escape from the responsibility. 
The obligations of missionary effort necessarily connect them- 
selves with all Christian profession and enjoyment; and their 
recognition and redemption among those of proper religious 
advantages, can be disregarded at no less a price than the 
forfeiture of religion itself. 

A compliance with missionary obligation is attended, in 
addition to those blessings which result from obedience to 
God, with many inestimable advantages, confirming that great 
principle of God's economy of the indissoluble union between 
duty and interest. 

In any sphere of life, right missisonary effort involves the 
exercise of all the graces. Whatever constitutes the subjec- 
tive character of Christianity — faith, courage, love, hope, 
humility, patience, charity — these great elements of Christian 
experience all are kept in highest tension in the faithful dis- 
charge of missionary obligation. Indeed, missionary employ- 
ment is but Christianity itself, in the full exercise of its own 
peculiar principles. The great field of missions, therefore, 
is the Christian's destined sphere for the maturity of all those 
qualities which make up the amplitude and symmetry of 
Christian character. In his own private sphere he may be 
restricted and confined, but the partial, unequal character, 
which he might accordingly assume, is rectified and perfected 
in this broader field of action. 

Indeed, so related are all the graces of the Christian to 



180 PROGRESS. 

those exercises involved in doing good, in disseminating 
Christianity, that it may be well doubted whether they ever 
exist in a healthy, perfect condition, independently of them. 
Constituted as they are with reference to these objects, and 
destined to move in this field, away from it, deprived of their 
natural and appointed sustenance, they must wither and perish. 
Christianity, without missionary zeal, has ever exhibited itself 
an inert, lifeless system, distinguishable only by its forms, or 
else as a partial system, a splendid enormity, which owes all 
its value to the sacrifice of some essential qualities. Pervaded 
and actualized on the other hand by an enlightened missionary 
spirit, it has ever shown itself vigorous and full of vitality, 
everywhere developing its qualities harmoniously and scrip- 
turally, and going forth with energy and success to the ac- 
complishment of its appointed ends. 

There is, in right missionary zeal, an all-embracing sym- 
pathy — a deep, ever-active interest in the welfare of all others 
— that tends to keep the mind inquisitive in regard to all 
the world. Alive, thus, to the religious history of all, and 
availing itself of every accessible source of information, the 
Christian mind at all times maintains an intelligent appre- 
hension of the religious state of the world. A missionary 
Church necessarily is an enlightened Church. With an 
element of mental activity stimulating to mental inquiry over 
the broad field of both actual and possible missionary enter- 
prise, it enjoys an intimate and extended knowledge of all 
mankind. But this knowledge, while it forestalls the blight- 
ing influence of selfish seclusiveness and indifference, which 
too often has been the bane of the Church, is itself an essen- 
tial element of Christian excellence, and the basis of all 
distinguished Christian enterprise and progress. 

It is the spirit of missions that imparts liveliness to the 
piety of the Church, energy to her operations, and progres- 
siveness to her onward march. And the difference in public 



THE MISSIONARY FUNCTION. 181 

spirit, extended sympathy, and, consequently, in a general 
acquaintance with the religious history of the world — indeed, 
in all that adorns and gives impulse and progress to the 
higher forms of Christianity — between a Church without 
proper missionary spirit and one which enjoys it, demonstrates 
conclusively the powerful influence of this spirit in the pro- 
motion of these important graces. 

In the cause of missions, all the resources of the Christian 
may find employment. Wealth, talents, position, personal 
exertion, however great or however small, each and all, may 
be usefully appropriated in this great field. All may be use- 
ful and all may employ all they have in the cause of God. 
However much, therefore, Christians may be restricted in all 
other departments in this great field, ample room is afforded 
for the practical manifestation of the highest zeal, and every 
evidence of devotion to God. 

In every aspect in which it may be considered, the mis- 
sionary field sustains a most important relation to the develop- 
ment and perfection of all those qualities which give sym- 
metry and elevation to Christian character, and which secure 
the fullest preparation for heaven. Indeed, so necessary is 
it, that without it the Christian is without any fixed law of 
growth, and is incapable of maturity or perfection. It is the 
great theatre which God has appointed for his right education 
and training, and needs only to be rightly occupied to secure 
to every one, in the end, the most triumphant results. 

Successful missionary effort secures indirectly other im- 
portant advantages. 

Every man is benefited, in a variety of ways, by the diffu- 
sion of Christianity throughout the country in which he 
lives. Every individual gained to the cause of Christ con- 
stitutes an addition to the stock of general happiness, and 
thus, in a progressive ratio, until the whole body politic is 
leavened with the gospel. 



182 PROGRESS. 

All free government like ours is but the expression of the 
sentiments of the people, and, consequently, in its administra- 
tion will be pure, and directed to Christian objects, according 
to the number of those in it who are the subjects of Chris- 
tian principle. All governments, even such as are limited 
like ours, embrace a wide sphere to which moral quality 
attaches, and in which they may be used for the furtherance 
of Christian ends. The motives and the conduct of those 
who are the officers of government, the capabilities of the 
government for the suppression of crime, for the protection 
of virtue, for guarding the sanctity of the Sabbath, and the 
sacred, institutions liable to be invaded by sacrilegious vio- 
lence, and for the promotion, by positive legislation, of those 
enterprises which look to the moral elevation and happiness 
of community — all these involve moral quality and evince 
the potency of government in the promotion of evil or of 
good. But if government, in all these respects, may be for 
or against the cause of God, according to the relative propor- 
tion of its Christian subjects, then most evidently, all inte- 
rested as they are in these moral relations of government are 
benefited by every accession to the cause of Christ, and 
most of all, by the evangelization of the whole country. No 
one who, acquainted with the history of the government, is 
aware of the evils resulting from corrupt men in power, from 
corrupt legislation, and from a failure to exercise the legiti- 
mate functions of civil authority in the promotion of virtue, 
can avoid the same conclusion. Much is said of parties, of 
measures, and of men, as panaceas of our political evils, and 
as the only requisite instrumentality of every desired blessing 
to the couniry. But after all, Christianity is the grand ele- 
ment needed, and this diffused, would give stability to our 
institutions, honesty in the enactment and administration of 
law, and all the moral elevation and happiness which it is 
the high prerogative of government to secure. As long. 



THE MISSIONARY FUNCTION. 183 

therefore, as there are those within a government who do not 
practically recognize their allegiance to Heaven, every ad- 
vancement which Christianity makes among them, whether 
within the limits of the organized Church, or among those 
supplied with the gospel by agencies more peculiarly mis- 
sionary, must he advantageous to the entire country. 

The social character of men renders them exceedingly 
liable to the sway of social influences, and especially, in virtue 
of their innate depravity, of those antagonistic to Christian 
faith and practice. All men, even in the maturity of their 
manly strength and firmness, are affected by these moral 
influences ; and the youth of the country take the form of 
their character almost exclusively from them. But the 
elements which constitute these influences — such as public 
opinion, current maxims, fashion, and example — are adverse 
or favorable to virtue and to piety, according to the extent 
of the prevalence of Christian principle. These are but the 
aggregate of all the individual manifestations in these re- 
spects, and hence their moral effect will be proportionate to 
the progress of Christianity among the whole population. 
Nor can any fractional part of a community, however isolated 
or compact, be independent of these influences elsewhere 
exhibited. There is between all sections of any civilized 
country, and especially of one like ours, such a mutual, social 
connection and dependence, as make the various elements of 
social influence existing in one spot felt everywhere, and the 
character of this influence, generally prevailing, but the com- 
bined result of the social character of every section of the 
country. The dependence of every individual, and especially 
the young, thus felt upon the moral progress of community, 
is witnessed by every man's experience, and especially in 
those communities whose moral progress being very limited 
or very general, exhibits the effect of this principle in a 
striking degree. Any advancement, therefore, which Chris 



184 PROGRESS. 

tianity makes in any part of the country, is a blessing fee 
every man of that country, and increasingly so with every 
step, until the whole population is leavened with the truth. 

But there are other general changes, which the progress 
of Christianity in any community secures, that are highly 
advantageous to the whole country. There are various cala- 
mities which may befall communities, such as pecuniary 
revulsions, social agitations, famine, pestilence, and provi- 
dential visitations without number. In every country these 
have occurred, and our own, as highly favored as it is in all 
the constituents of prosperity, is not exempt from them. 
That they are, at least in great part, the judgments of Grod, 
the righteous inflictions of Divine Providence upon the sins 
of the people, is of easy apprehension to those who rightly 
appreciate the Divine economy • and it is confirmed by the 
facts, that most of these calamities are, indeed, directly trace- 
able to transgressions of moral law, and that they gene- 
rally occur in those communities in which the greatest 
number and most distinguished instances of moral dereliction 
are found. But in every community, by a law of Heaven ; 
(such is the mutual connection subsisting between its various 
parts,) in respect of all temporal judgments, the responsi- 
bility of sin is in an important sense shared by all, so that 
these calamities, though occasioned by but a part, yet are felt 
in their destructive influences by the whole community. 
However high, therefore, may be any man's Christian expe- 
rience, or favorable soever that of his immediate neighbor- 
hood, he is, nevertheless, so dependent upon the moral state 
of the whole country, that his own interests are promoted by 
the advancement of Christianity in any part of that country. 

But this connection existing between every man and the 
whole country in which he resides (in consequence of which 
he is affected in these various methods by the moral progress 
of every part of that country) likewise exists, though, per- 



THE MISSIONARY FUNCTION. 185 

haps, in various inferior degrees, between him and all 
portions of the habitable globe, so that, in all these parti- 
culars, every man is benefited by the spread of Christianity 
in every part of the earth. 

History proves that, correspondingly with the diffusion and 
influence of Christianity among nations, will be the develop- 
ment of all those resources, both intellectual and material, 
which make their international relationships valuable — that 
the spread of Christianity among a people hitherto dead to 
the world, leading them to industry, to enterprise, and general 
cultivation, will ultimately bring them into relative signifi- 
cance and usefulness ; and that the benevolent, conciliatory 
influences of missionary operations contribute more than all 
else to bind one country to another, and to give access to 
those advantages which its peculiar resources and circum- 
stances afford. Missionary effort, therefore, multiplies and 
enlarges the benefits which result from commerce with the 
nations of the earth. 

Missionary effort, in virtue of the faith and motives which 
prompt to it, the increase of Christian strength, and the 
extension of Christian territory which its success secures, 
and the increased availability of Christ's mediation which 
this greater activity involves, propitiates the kindness of 
Heaven and insures a divine blessing, felt everywhere in the 
impartation of renewed life to the Christian, greater success 
to his efforts, and a more universal happiness. 

From this broad survey, the evidence is accumulative and 
conclusive, that the interest of every man, both temporal and 
spiritual, earthly and heavenly, is bound up with the exercise 
and success of missionary exertion, at home and abroad, and 
that duty in this respect, as in all others, is inseparably 
blended with benefit. 

Though the achievements of missionary enterprise have 
been sufficient to excite our gratitude, and to evince in clear- 



186 PROGRESS. 

est light its obligations; yet to all who understand the potency 
of the gospel^ as an aggressive agency, and the divine sanc- 
tion of all legitimate means to advance it, the comparative 
inefficiency of missionary operations, both past and present, 
must be apparent. 

This fact, so lamentable and so pressing in its claims upon 
our attention, is attributable to several causes. 

1. Missionary operations thus far have been a simple ap- 
pendage — a mere incidental arrangement, as respects the 
whole Church, rather than the last, highest expression of all 
herprinciples in full proportion and activity. They are the 
result of a spirit in the Church, struggling, but not yet with 
full power to reach the elevation adapted to missionary enter- 
prise — of a combination of the highest forms of Christianity 
existing, not generally, but here and there in isolated in- 
stances, and uniting by sympathetic affinity over masses not 
yet prepared for the expression of this the fullest growth and 
perfection of Christian principle. The entire strength of all 
the resources of all the Church has never yet been exerted 
in this field of Christian action. This field has never yet 
stood out before the entire Church, as the cherished object 
of its constant attention — the great theatre on which all its 
qualities and capabilities, pent up and restrained without it, 
are to find their desired exercise and expansion. This scheme 
is but a single element, a mere isolated part of the system of 
the Church — regarded as demanding but an occasional 
thought from the mass of the Church, and to be left to the 
care of those alone to whom its management is more imme- 
diately committed. The active mind of the entire Church — ■ 
its powerful, constant faith — its fervid zeal — its earnest, 
ever-recurring prayer — its extensive pecuniary resources — • 
have never yet been furnished as a systematic, spontaneous 
contribution to the grand cause of missions. The limited 
number of those more immediately devoted to this cause — 



THE MISSIONARY FUNCTION. 187 

the powerful external machinery appointed to arouse an oc- 
casional spasmodic enthusiasm in its behalf — the meagre 
amount of pecuniary contribution to it — the rareness with 
which it becomes an engrossing topic of thought, or of eon- 
verse, or of prayer, public or private — in short, the slight- 
ness of its hold upon the attention, the moral sense, and the 
deep, all-pervading sympathies of the people, are all evidences 
of the incidental character of this cause, and of the fact that 
missionary enterprise has never yet become the exponent of 
the mature strength of Christian principle. 

But missionary operations can never be commensurate in 
extent with the obligations of the Church, or in themselves 
possess the necessary elements of full success, unless they 
practically sustain to the Church this high relation. Being, 
in the order of Heaven's economy, but the fruit of a piety 
overflowing and seeking this its destined outlet, they only, 
when thus constituted, combine those elements of moral force 
requisite to complete prosperity. Then only is enterprise 
broad, comprehensive, and sustained : then only is moral 
power vitalizing and resistless ; and then only are all of the 
great forces of the Church militant properly arrayed for these 
her highest achievements. Until, therefore, missionary en- 
terprise becomes the expression of the zeal of the whole 
Church, the outlet of her moral forces seeking this the ap- 
pointed method of their development, the cherished offspring 
of the vast hosts of the cross, the object of unremitting at- 
tention, of unfaltering energy, and of widest, most enduring 
faith, the field of its exercise will be narrow, and, with the 
conditions of successful cultivation unfulfilled, necessarily to 
a great extent unproductive. 

But this want of adaptation in the existing condition of 
the Church to missionary enterprise is fatal to its success, not 
merely because of the absence it implies of those qualities 
which make up the conditions of right missionary effort, but 



188 PROGRESS. 

because of the lack of that fullness of divine aid, without 
which no Christian movement is successful, and to the impar- 
tation of which, neglect or short-coming is an effectual barrier. 

2. Missionary enterprise has been greatly defeated by an 
unwise selection of some of the principal fields of its opera- 
tion. The heathen and those of them most degraded, as 
being most helpless, have enjoyed the largest share of atten- 
tion, while the more enlightened, though equally destitute, 
have been comparatively neglected. The darkest portions of 
Asia, of Africa, and America, have been the spots on which 
missionary labor has been, for the most part, expended, while 
the destitute portions of Europe, and many of the more civil- 
ized sections in America, except in a few isolated instances, 
have received but little attention. 

But, if the salvation of the greatest number, and the most 
rapid advancement to the great end of universal evangeliz- 
ation, should be the controlling consideration in the scheme 
of missionary operations, the impolicy of this preference is 
apparent. 

The languages of the degraded heathen, generally so re- 
mote from those of Christian nations, and consequently so 
difficult of acquisition, are so imperfect and incapable of con- 
veying the high conceptions which pertain to spiritual Chris- 
tianity, as necessarily to interpose an insuperable barrier to 
its diffusion among them. The same obstacles do not in 
general exist among the people of Europe and America, who, 
though equally destitute of the true religion, yet speak lan- 
guages cognate with those of evangelical countries, and capa- 
ble of conveying the great truths of the Christian religion. 
If, therefore, the missionary zeal of the Church were directed 
more exclusively to people further advanced in civilization, 
much of the labor, time, and means now expended in prepa- 
ration would be avoided, and every resource would be at once 
available in the evangelization of men. 



THE MISSIONARY FUNCTION. 189 

A people in the lowest state of degradation are incapable 
of maintaining, if not of embracing, the pure doctrines of 
Christianity. The conceptions of Christianity, partaking of 
the abstract and spiritual, without some degree of mental ele- 
vation, cannot be embraced, or find a permanent lodgment in 
the mind. Experience demonstrates the difficulty of bring- 
ing the lowest forms of mind, in civilized countries even, into 
an appreciation of the doctrines of the Bible, and of securing 
among them a stable Christianity. How much greater must 
this difficulty be among a people yet lower in the scale of 
being — susceptible only of the grossest ideas, and surrounded 
by influences which constantly tend still further to degrade 
them ! 

The success which has attended partial efforts in portions 
of destitute Europe and America, when contrasted with what 
has been achieved in Asia and Africa, in which the missionary 
energies of the Church have been mainly expended, conclu- 
sively shows the advantage of selecting the more intellectually 
advanced as the important field for missionary exertion. With 
some degree of mental elevation, yet, as respects all that is 
vital, equally degraded and destitute, and with languages 
already known to many who may be employed as missionaries, 
the gospel, when presented to them, finds immediate access, 
and when embraced, retains and perpetuates its influence, con- 
stituting every additional subject an additional accession to 
the force already employed. 

There is, perhaps, not a spot among the heathen that 
could be selected as the scene of operations, which is not 
necessarily severed from all Christian society, and surrounded 
by those alone in similar moral condition. How difficult must 
it be to make a people pure, and, still farther, to perpetuate 
purity, when every existing influence concurs to oppose it. 
But if missionary zeal were chiefly directed to those on the 
confines of evangelical Christendom, or to those anywhere of 



190 PROGRESS. 

partial civilization, these obstacles of remoteness from the 
good, and of contiguity to moral darkness and degradation, 
would be removed, leaving the gospel in a more favorable con- 
dition to work out its own glorious results. 

The Church herself would acquire increased efficiency, by 
pursuing this mode of diffusion. There exists among all 
nations, of any degree of civilization, a mutual moral influ- 
ence, an influence strong in the ratio of the degree of that 
civilization and of their proximity. It is impossible, there- 
fore, that the moral strength of any people should be fully 
developed as long as there is the absence of Christianity 
among those enjoying this connection with them. The effect, 
therefore, of giving those communities the farthest advanced 
in civilization,, who are yet destitute of the Bible, the prefer- 
ence in the selection of missionary fields — of making the 
degree of the intellectual advancement the test of the amount 
of missionary effort to be concentrated upon them — will be 
to give Christendom great advantages, not merely in a nega- 
tive sense, by the removal of obstructions, but, positively, in 
the expansion of its fervor and enterprise. 

The very compactness of Christian influence which this 
system would secure, free from spots of intermediate dark- 
ness, and unmingled with intractable materials, would impart 
to the Christian force of the world an energy and breadth of 
range which, under the present diluted condition of Christen- 
dom, cannot be enjoyed. 

This system, so far from involving the neglect of the hea- 
then, will secure their conversion to Christianity, much sooner 
than the one now pursued. Many heathen nations may not 
be the objects of missionary efforts so soon, but it will secure 
the conversion of a greater number of heathen within a given 
time, and consequently a more speedy evangelization of the 
whole world. It is, perhaps, right that the sympathies of the 
Christian world should make it no respecter of nations, and 



THE MISSIONARY FUNCTION. 191 

averse to the postponement of the claims of any upon its 
benevolence ; (and it has been by this feeling alone that its 
policy hitherto has been dictated ;) but as all cannot receive 
the gospel at once, and the process of its diffusion must be 
gradual, it is wise, and in harmony with God's own provi- 
dence, that, irrespective of all other considerations, that course 
should be pursued which promises the most rapid success in 
the universal extension of the Redeemer's kingdom. 

There is no nation in Europe which is not partially civilized, 
and, therefore, in a condition to receive the gospel. Suppose 
all its population were the subjects of saving Christianity, and 
consequently realized that missionary zeal which properly 
enlightened views ever inspire, what amount of Christian in- 
fluence would be exerted upon all that vast population which 
surrounds it, and which is now in heathenish darkness ! 
Suppose Spain and Italy, and Greece and Turkey and Russia, 
were all thoroughly Christian nations, what would be the ad- 
vantages enjoyed, in respect of a conversion to Christianity, 
by Northern Africa, Egypt, Asia Minor, Syria, Asiatic Russia, 
and Tartary, all of which are contiguous to these nations. 
Contiguity, easiness of access, advantages in respect of lan- 
guage, international bonds and relationships, all would give 
numberless facilities for success in the spread of the gospel, 
which under no other circumstances would be enjoyed. The 
pure light, thus shining brilliantly from the teeming millions 
of Europe, could not be hemmed in by continental limits, but 
would gradually spread itself over the vast hordes of neigh- 
boring Asia and Africa, until all had felt the saving influence 
of its benignant beams. These European nations, thus evan- 
gelized, would rapidly advance, through the elevating ten- 
dencies of Christianity, in all the elements of a high civilization. 
By commerce, therefore, by colonization, by all those processes 
of amalgamation which constantly go on between neighboring 
nations, these adjacent portions of Asia and Africa would 



192 PROGRESS. 

enjoy a constant accession of those influences which elevate 
the mind and improve the condition of a people; so that 
while the Christianity of Europe would furnish all the in- 
strumentalities requisite for its own diffusion, her international 
associations would be perpetually carrying on such civilizing 
processes as would be necessary to prepare the way for its re- 
ception. In the present condition of Christendom, the efforts 
of missionary enterprise are futile, compared with the gran- 
deur and efficiency of those agencies which would then be 
employed for the conversion of this immense population. 
But upon the conversion of this contiguous population, they 
themselves would become a part of the great missionary force 
and a centre of operations to extend the limits of Christen- 
dom still farther among their neighbors, in the heart of Asia 
and Africa, and thus onward, in this aggressive method, until 
those vast continents shall be covered with the civilization 
and glory of the cross. 

The United States, especially, through their Pacific terri- 
tories, sustain the most intimate relation to Mexico, to the 
Western States of South America, to the islands of the Pacific, 
to China, and other Asiatic countries, all of which are occu- 
pied by a heathen or a not much less degraded people. If 
by suitable direction of missionary effort, all their population 
were made pious, so that all of the channels of connection 
which arise out of this relation were sanctified and religiously 
controlled, they would contribute more to the civilization and 
evangelization of these dark portions of the earth, than the 
present random, immethodical plans can possibly accomplish. 

It is perhaps proper — it is perhaps wise — that China 
should be, as she is, a chosen field for missionary enterprise. 
Her people, though locked up in a language that almost defies 
acquisition, are yet partially civilized, and capable now, in 
some measure, of receiving the ideas peculiar to the gospel , 
and "the intimate commercial relations established between 



THE MISSIONARY FUNCTION. 193 

her and the evangelical countries of Europe and America will 
be powerful auxiliaries to the specific agencies of the gospel. 
These facts take her out of the relation which the vast mass 
of the heathen sustain to the Christian world, and place her, 
perhaps, in the category of those, the proper objects of imme- 
diate missionary effort. But after all, we doubt not that time 
will show that China is to receive the most efficient of the 
agencies for her evangelization through her relations to the 
Pacific territories of the United States, showing still the cor- 
rectness of the view advanced, that the instrumentalities 
which do in fact the work of evangelizing a heathen people, 
are such only as press upon them, and are brought to bear 
through the nearness and directness of their relations with 
those already subjected to the dominion of the gospel. 

Christianity is essential to any desirable or perfect state of 
civilization, but some degree of civilization is an indispensa- 
ble basis to any successful implantation of the gospel. Com- 
merce, colonization, amalgamation, are the great instrumen- 
talities which the gospel seizes upon to communicate itself to 
destitute communities. And the great business of the Church 
is to watch the direction of these, and to regulate accordingly 
her missionary enterprise. These, in fact, are the providen- 
tial indications to the proper fields of missionary activity — 
the true channels in which should run the zeal and efforts of 
the Church. These, too, however prosperous and rapid the 
real march of missions, will ever keep in advance, furnishing 
perpetually proper openings for effort, since, in the nature of 
things, before the missionary field in any country can be ex- 
hausted, it must reach a stage of progress at which these 
relations to destitute surrounding countries will be established. 
So that, while the gospel is dependent upon these harbingers 
for its propagation, it is yet within its own province so to 
keep them in advance, that its success is after all in the ratio 
of the energy and efficiency with which it is applied. Thest? 



194 PROGRESS. 

great forerunners of the gospel do not constitute a part of 
the gospel, nor do they imply its inadequacy to accomplish 
that whereunto it is sent : they simply indicate the necessity 
of some degree of preparation, before the gospel can have 
such access as is necessary to its general saving embracement. 
This has ever been the history of the extension of Chris- 
tianity — its history in Europe and America, and more re- 
cently, its history in respect of our Pacific territories ) for it 
has been by colonization that the gospel has been carried ovei 
this continent to the Pacific, and it will perhaps be, under 
the blessing of God, by colonization that it will be conveyed 
to the destitute islands of the Pacific, to China, to Japan, and 
the other regions of Asia — the present degraded races, by a 
law of contact between a higher and lower race, being sup- 
planted, and those vast regions becoming the domain of the 
Christian descendants of the Anglo-Saxon race. It may be 
that the world is thus to be converted by higher Christian 
races taking the places of its present degraded inhabitants, 
so that when the millennial day shall appear, it shall exhibit 
a world, not only evangelized, but whose inhabitants shall 
be so elevated in the scale of being, that its Christianity shall 
be the realization of the full measure of the amplitude and 
grandeur of the gospel of Christ. 

3. The want of the requisite strength, at the various points 
at which missionary effort has been made, has contributed to 
limit the success of missions. The history of missionary 
operations, especially of those in foreign lands, shows the in- 
jurious effect upon their efficiency of a weakness of force — 
a weakness mainly consequent upon a multiplication of the 
fields of labor. What are the efforts of a few men among 
many millions of degraded, wretched people, especially when, 
as in almost all our foreign missions, there are frequent in- 
tervals of entire absence of all missionary effort ? There is 
no correspondence between the means employed and the o!> 



THE MISSIONARY FUNCTION. 195 

ject to be accomplished. An increase of strength at the 
various points occupied, or even a more perfect concentration 
of the strength already employed, even though it would limit 
the number of points occupied, would secure, in a given time, 
a greater aggregate of accessions and a more rapid extension 
of the Redeemer's kingdom. The Napoleon tactics, which 
aim at a concentration of forces, are not more important in 
war than in missionary operations ; and a degree of success 
commensurate with the obligations of the Church will never 
be secured, until this principle is practically adopted. And in 
many of those fields, where the defects of this inadequate 
system of supply might be partially met by the proper train- 
ing and employment of native assistants, no judicious and 
well-digested plan for accomplishing this end has yet been 
devised. 

4. The concentration of the efforts of missionaries upon 
the adult classes, instead of a system of effort which looks to 
the ultimate evangelization of the people by the proper reli- 
gious education and training of the young, has been another 
cause of the comparative failure of missions. Among a peo- 
ple so low as are the heathen, and as are even a large portion 
of our negroes, the adult classes are unsusceptible, in any 
permanent degree, of the transforming influences of the 
gospel ; and if missionary effort is restricted to them, it must 
be a long time before they can assume the position of an 
evangelical people, if indeed they ever can. Their intellects 
are too contracted, and their existing ideas are too gross, to 
receive any thing like, generally in any permanently impres- 
sible degree, the ideas of the gospel ; and even if they could, 
the baser passions, by nature, have such ascendency, and are 
so much confirmed by cultivation and habit, as to overbear 
any degree of the feeble light which they are capable of 
receiving. Among them, there is too much ignorance to be 
overcome — too much error to be eliminated — too much of 



196 PROGRESS. 

natural opposition to be overborne — for the slight amount of 
truth which they are capable of receiving, to subject them to 
Christian dominion, and to mould them into the pure forms 
of a holy, life-giving Christianity. Restricted then as mis- 
sionary effort has been mainly to them, it is not to be expected 
that much could be accomplished ; and it is no reflection upon 
the capacity of missionary enterprise, that visible success has 
thus far been comparatively limited. But, directed to the 
young, whose minds are not preoccupied with the grossness 
of their fathers, and whose propensities have not been strength- 
ened by indulgence and habit, missionary effort can be suc- 
cessful in the impartation of religious ideas, which, being re- 
ceived at that impressible season, will mould the character 
and habits in accordance with them, so that when this gen- 
eration grow up and take the places of those who preceded 
them, that people will exhibit a race imbued with the truths 
of the gospel, and with habits and principles evolved by 
their influence. A higher place they will occupy in the 
scale of moral and intellectual being — a race they will be- 
come more susceptible of the appliances of the gospel — in- 
deed, a race themselves prepared to cooperate with missionary 
agencies, and affording advantages for an elevation of their 
children beyond the point they have attained — securing thus 
the constant movement of a system of influences destined to 
perpetuate an upward progress, in every successive genera- 
tion, until truth and righteousness shall universally prevail. 
If even in Christian lands, it has been found to be the most 
successful plan for the spread of Christianity to operate among 
the young — even though the unconverted adult classes have 
grown up with characters largely modelled by the principles 
of Christianity, and with ideas already received, sufficient to 
form a basis for the action of gospel appliances — surely such 
a course is the most judicious among a people whose adult 
classes, both in the opposition of their gross untractable na- 



THE MISSIONARY FUNCTION. 197 

ture, and the utter destitution of their minds, present every 
barrier to the impress of gospel instrumentalities. Mission- 
ary effort, therefore, ought to be directed mainly to the religious 
education of the young. Until this is the adopted policy, all 
will be uncertainty, instability, and comparative defeat; but 
when made such, though for a time progress may seem slow, 
and there may be but little to report of direct success, yet 
when the young, thus educated, begin to assume their places 
upon the stage of action, and wield the influence which their 
advantages, moral and intellectual, will have secured to them, 
a change will mark the condition of society, and the moral 
agencies which control it will be visible to all, full of bless- 
ing to the people, and glorious in the estimation of the friends 
of missions. 

Moreover, as under this system the peculiar work required 
is not such as to demand ministerial labor exclusively, but 
laymen and women may be made serviceable in its prose- 
cution, it opens up a scheme of missionary enterprise by 
which it is practicable to add, with the same convenience, a 
greatly additional force to that possible to be employed under 
the present system, of almost exclusive attention to the 
adult classes — by which it is practicable to enlist many of 
the good, not belonging to the ministry, but who, burning 
to do good, would gladly be employed in the glorious work of 
spreading the light of the gospel among the destitute of the 
earth. Thus might the missionary force be made indefinitely 
strong, without those drains from the ranks of the ministry 
which, under the present system, would be demanded ', and 
a field being opened up, in which missionary zeal and sym- 
pathy, in all ranks, might expend itself, greatly increased life 
and activity would be everywhere imparted to the missionary 
cause. 

5. Impatience — too great haste to realize results — has 
been an unvarying characteristic of missionary operations. 



198 PROGRESS. 

So accustomed is the age to a system of pressure for com- 
passing the fruits of enterprise — to the most rapid realization 
of schemes — to a constant succession of the most surprising 
changes, carrying forward individuals and communities with 
exciting, bewildering speed — that it is disqualified for any 
scheme that does not promise immediate reward. In all its 
operations, it is actuated by this same spirit. But the con- 
version of the world is a scheme of vast extent, and must 
require an indefinite time for its fulfillment. Merely random 
effort in aid of it — a mere temporary policy, adopted with no 
wise and suitable reference to the future ■ — are unworthy of 
the great interests involved, and inadequate to the high and 
pressing obligations of the Church. With a comprehensive 
foresight of the nature and extent of the object to be accom- 
plished, the mode of its accomplishment should be reduced, 
if possible, to one vast system, in which the proper kinds of 
instrumentality should be determined, the proper places of 
the various parties assigned, the effort employed be made to 
refer by mutual understanding to given objects and recipro- 
cally to conduce to the achievement of the same great results. 
This system might demand, with the return of each moral 
cycle, a new adjustment, but, with the increased light and 
resources enjoyed, it would be rendered more perfect, and con- 
sequently more efficient, in the realization of its appointed 
ends. If, under this arrangement, our generation, and others 
yet to come, should be required to perform work merely pre- 
liminary and preparatory, in which but little practical fruit 
would be seen, in the spirit of faith and with an enlightened 
apprehension of the future bearing of our labors, we should 
seek more fully to meet this requirement, feeling that this is 
a work equally valuable and perhaps more pleasing to Glod, 
as being sustained less by the prospect of immediate results, 
than by faith in the pledges of a superintending Providence. 
But this elevated view of the relation of the Church to mis- 



THE MISSIONARY FUNCTION. 199 

sions, seems never yet to have been generally realized. In 
harmony with the spirit of the age, immediate fruit, visible, 
practical results, a sacrifice of all considerations of the future 
to the interests of the present, constitute the only object of 
concern, the great rule of practice. Hence the immediate 
rush, without the requisite preparatory steps, into the very 
heart of heathenism, and the random character of the efforts 
employed. Hence the division of strength, by scattering it 
in a variety of fields — the result of an impatient, illy con- 
sidered desire to convert all the world at once. Hence the 
restriction of effort in a great degree to the adult population, 
being indisposed to wait for the slow, yet in the end, much 
greater effects which; would follow an expenditure of effort 
mainly upon the young. Hence the absence of system, com- 
prehensive and far-reaching, to which enterprise is subjected; 
and hence, indeed, the meagre amount of missionary zeal, so 
far short of the obligations of the Church and the demands 
of the world. 

The great desideratum now, in respect of the missionary 
cause, is, that the masses should be brought into a profbunder 
and more abiding relation to the interests of missions. Suit- 
able zeal would then naturally follow, and the general mind, 
intently occupied as it would be, in this behalf, would gradu- 
ally rectify itself, as to the proper method of management, 
until correct views would prevail. This demand is to be met 
by the diffusion of knowledge, touching the whole sphere of 
missionary relationship. Engrossed in the work of personal 
salvation, and the interests of religion at home, the general 
mind hitherto has remained in ignorance on these great sub- 
jects. But the conscience of the Church is, in the main, 
right, and only needs light, when this direct and universal 
relationship to the cause of missions would be at once recog- 
nized. The press, hitherto used but partially and indirectly 
in subserviency of this enterprise, must be employed specially 



200 PROGRESS. 

to send out, in every form likely to find general circulation 
and reach the public mind, a constant stream of information, 
gathered from the Bible, from reasoning, from history, from 
the present condition of the various missionary fields, and 
any other source likely to enlighten the judgment, and stir 
the conscience. Those who rightly think and feel upon this 
subject — the ministry and more advanced of the laity — 
should bestir themselves to give these sources of knowledge 
currency and acceptability among the people. Through the 
pulpit and the more private medium of converse, the public 
mind should be constantly held in contact with missionary 
interests. The present is a reading age, and an age of 
oratory and eloquence, and at no former period could these 
powerful agencies be more availably employed in aid of the 
great cause* of missions. 

But however potent may be these agencies, the Church can 
never be brought into this intimate and universal conscious 
relationship to the cause of missions, and into a full and 
abiding sense of all her responsibilities in respect of it, except 
by the inculcation and training of such a spirit among the 
young, and furnishing their minds with such knowledge, as 
will constitute their missionary obligations an ever-present 
and ever-active principle of life. It is difficult to make any 
religious principle so prominent as to give it constant ascend- 
ency and activity in all the situations of life, unless that prin- 
ciple has been planted in early youth, and has, in addition to 
its divine sanction and culture, all the advantages of prece- 
dence in experience, and the sustaining, strengthening in- 
fluences of cultivation and habit. All the methods, there- 
fore, by which the youthful heart can be enlisted in the cause 
of missions, and the minds of youth enlightened in regard to 
its condition and claims, should be seized upon as the surest 
means to bring the Church up to the full measure of her 
missionary obligations. By juvenile missionary societies, 



THE MISSIONARY FUNCTION. 201 

Sunday-schools, and any other agencies that may be employed, 
the subject of missions should be constantly pressed upon the 
young as a part of their education. In addition, a regular 
system of collections should be adopted, training them to lib- 
erality to this great object; and by lectures and the circula- 
tion of missionary intelligence through books and other 
channels, their minds should be constantly directed to this 
great object. Growing up thus imbued with missionary feel- 
ing and intelligence, they would enter upon the theatre of 
active life under the influence of an abiding, impelling, mis- 
sionary principle, and with such a conception of the whole 
field of missionary enterprise, as would give that principle the 
most wise and suitable application. Thus trained and directed, 
we should have a missionary Church ; but until the founda- 
tion is thus laid, all will be fitful, partial, and uncertain. 

There can be no doubt, that the missionary work ought to 
have engaged in it the higher class of the ministerial talent 
of the Church. First, because it is a work which, to be well 
and efficiently performed, demands the highest advantages of 
experience, judgment, and intellectual power. No mistake 
can be greater than to suppose that, because the knowledge 
to be imparted in the mission field is elementary, therefore 
inexperienced and ordinary men are competent to the task. 
That wisdom necessary to determine the best modes of obtain- 
ing access to the ignorant and the heathen — to conduct the 
plans of instruction adopted — to make the best use of any 
advantages or openings presented — to devise and execute the 
schemes of aggression, and manage all the complex relations 
of a public and private character which grow out of the ope- 
rations in which they are engaged — presupposes an amount 
of skill, of judgment, and of commanding talent inferior to 
none in any other department of ministerial action. Second, 
because such talent is required to give that character to mis- 
sionary operations necessary to attract the confidence of those 



202 PROGRESS. 

operated upon, and necessary to awaken in the Church right- 
attention to these interests, and to impress upon them a right 
sense of their magnitude and importance. Inferior men ap- 
pointed to these interests, depreciate them in the estimation 
of the masses, discredit their importance and right position, 
and increase the difficulties of an awakenment of a zeal and 
liberality in their behalf, commensurate with their real claims. 
As a Church, we have too much neglected this principle in 
the prosecution of our missionary enterprise. It has resulted 
from several facts. Our preachers of the higher order of 
talent have not themselves as yet been sufficiently impressed 
with the magnitude of missionary interests, to feel, in a con- 
trolling sense, the obligations upon them to enter personally 
into this work. A mistaken conception, both of the import- 
ance and the nature of missionary work, has created the 
belief, too generally, that talent of such kind would be buried 
in such employment, and that men of the lower ranks of 
qualification are best and alone suited to it. And if, from 
causes of this kind, the better qualified of the ministry are 
not excluded from this field of action, the low amount of 
salary which is paid to our missionaries — at least, the domes- 
tic, if not the foreign — has made it necessary to restrict the 
class of missionaries almost exclusively to those young, inex- 
perienced, and moderate in the range and power of their in- 
tellects. It cannot admit of a doubt, that the cause of missions, 
especially in the domestic field, has greatly suffered, both as 
to the success of the operations themselves of missions, and 
the awakenment of proper interest and liberality in the masses 
in behalf of them, by this mistaken and unwise policy. We 
have, it is true, occasional exceptions to this general character 
of the class of those actually engaged in this work, but un- 
questionably the cause of missions, and thereby the interest 
of the Church generally, would be greatly promoted by a 
system, which gives immediately to this cause more of the 



THE MISSIONARY FUNCTION. 203 

talent and experience of the Church. The proper develop- 
ment of the missionary function of the Church demands a 
change in this policy — salaries ought to be increased, even if 
thereby the number of missions are diminished — the increase 
of qualification gained to missionaries would more than com- 
pensate, by the increase of the success of missionary results, 
and the deeper interest felt by the masses of the Church in 
these objects, any loss which would seemingly thus accrue. 
But this diminution of points would be in fact but temporary, 
for these results of improvement would give an energy and 
expansiveness to missionary operations, that would soon not 
only cover these relinquished fields, but would far outstrip all 
that was realized before, in territorial appropriation, as well as 
in the thoroughness and perfection of the work accomplished 

The missionary enterprise of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, South, has, it is true, already directed itself into all 
those various fields which, if fully occupied, would cover the 
whole ground now claiming her attention. These are, first, 
the destitute sections embraced within the limits of our ex- 
isting ecclesiastical organization; secondly, the foreign pop- 
ulation in our midst; thirdly, the black population of the 
South; and fourthly, foreign lands. But we maintain that 
the proper development of the missionary function, requires 
that each of those fields be more fully and thoroughly occupied. 

First, the destitute sections embraced within our midst. It 
has been the policy of our Church, to extend her machinery 
of operations over every portion of the territorial limits em- 
braced within our ecclesiastical organization ; and where this 
could not be done through self-sustaining circuits and sta- 
tions, to effect it by the formation of missions, supported out 
of the general missionary collections. Accordingly there is, 
perhaps, no portion of our widely extended limits which is 
not now nominally encompassed within the sphere of our itin- 
erant operations. Still, a scrutinizing inspection will show, 



204 PROGRESS. 

that within the hounds of all our circuits even, there are 
neighborhoods, and sometimes whole communities, dark and 
uncultivated spots, which have never been appropriated by 
Methodist efforts, which have never been invaded by Metho- 
dist agency. Even in the best circuits of the best portions 
of our country, these spots are to be found, in numbers greater 
or less. In these circuits, there are certain fixed and definite 
societies, existing in different localities, some of which were 
formed in the early history of Methodism in the country, and 
others at different times since, as the result of revival influ- 
ence, or of providential or accidental arrangement. These 
societies constitute the appointments of those who are sent to 
serve these circuits, and either, because of a conceived want 
of time, or a belief that Methodism is restricted in its capa- 
city for aggression to these limits, or from a consciousness that 
no more service will be expected, the preacher is content to 
restrict his labors to these, and, from year to year, perseveres 
in the same beaten track, diverging neither to the one side nor 
to the other, to look up these unfrequented destitute neighbor- 
hoods. It is a fact, therefore, that all over our land, even in 
the best cultivated and most thoroughly Methodistic portions, 
there exist numerous localities, greater or less in dimensions, 
in which the people are unserved by Methodist instrumen- 
tality, and are almost as destitute religiously as if in a heathen 
land. These are the communities in which occur those in- 
stances of crime which disturb the peace of society — from 
which come up those corrupting influences that damage the 
morals of society, that retard its progress, and render less 
efficient those agencies which it is the office of the Church to 
employ. We are accustomed to deplore the evils of society, 
and to invent human instrumentalities to remove them, but 
after all, whatever else we may do, we are doing but little 
efficiently to remove the chief source of them, as long as we 
fail to extend over these particular sections the enlightening, 



THE MISSIONARY FUNCTION. 205 

reforming agencies of the gospel. Could these plague-spots 
be removed by their moral transformation and subjection, 
under the instrumentalities of the gospel — could these be 
changed from the attitude of enemies to that of cooperating 
friends — then would society in our midst, redeemed from 
these depressing, disturbing elements, arise to her rightful 
position of purity and power. 

But how is missionary effort to be properly extended to 
these destitute portions of community ? If, in our circuits, 
the appointments were properly condensed, leaving the 
preacher more time, especially if it were appointed as a part of 
his regular work, by visiting these sections, establishing, with 
the assistance of others, as it should be his duty, under any 
circumstances, as we have before shown, Sunday-schools — 
holding among them, at suitable central places, or if need be 
at private houses, night meetings for prayer and preaching — 
he himself might accomplish much. But there are other 
methods by which the instrumentality of the pulpit, at least, 
might be brought to bear more efficiently. As one method, 
there might be on these circuits, and particularly those most 
abounding in these dark, uncultivated regions, two preachers 
appointed — one of whom might, if necessary, be supported 
from the missionary fund, and whose duty it should be to 
have regular appointments in these destitute neighborhoods, 
at eligible places, and to seek, by the use of proper means, 
to organize societies among them. Or the policy might be 
established of employing, under the direction of the Quarterly 
Conferences, the local preachers in the performance of this 
important missionary work — it being just the field in which 
they could be in the highest degree useful, and in the occu- 
pancy of which, as their chief biisiness, many of the evils of 
the local preacher system could be obviated, and that system 
be made to hold a highly available place among the aggres- 
sive agencies of the Church. Under either method, the 



206 PROGRESS. 

policy should be to have these societies incorporated into 
the regular work of the circuit as soon as formed, thereby 
extending its range, until every precinct of the land shall 
be added to the self-sustaining portion of the work, and be- 
come itself tributary to the power and glory of the Christian 
cause. 

Again : in our larger cities, though they are embraced 
within the sphere of regular ministerial supply, and have 
numerous and powerful Christian societies, there are exten- 
sive districts to a large extent unappropriated by religious 
agency, and a large proportion of the inhabitants are as 
effectually without the sphere of immediate Christian appli- 
ances, as if they dwelt at the remotest distance from them. 
A walk through the various parts of these cities, especially 
on the Sabbath day, and a knowledge of those who compose 
the congregations of their Churches, are sufficient to convince 
any one of these facts ; and they are abundantly indicated by 
the outbreaking crime of constant occurrence, and the de- 
plorable moral condition of their inferior population. Expe- 
rience demonstrates that the comparatively passive system 
heretofore pursued in these cities, by which the private efforts 
of the ministry have been confined mainly to the Church, 
and their pulpit efforts to the regular places of public wor- 
ship, will never effectually reach these destitute classes, but 
that they will remain as unaddressed as if these religious 
agencies were totally wanting. There is required a more 
actively aggressive system — one which is arranged with direct 
reference to these classes — which seeks them out, and by 
positive advances accomodates all its movements to the best 
methods of bringing them directly into contact with the im- 
mediate instrumentalities of the gospel. There ought to be 
appointed missionaries to these, whose business it should be 
to leave the beaten track — now the appropriate walk of the 
stationed preachers — and going into these destitute districts, 



THE MISSIONARY FUNCTION. 207 

and among these classes who never frequent the house of 
God, to bring to bear by conversation, by the formation, with 
the assistance of others, of Sunday-schools, by religious 
gatherings in private houses for lecture and exhortation, by 
preaching in the streets, in the markets, or any other places, 
open and suitable for such purposes, all the various instru- 
mentalities likely to arrest their attention, and to lead them 
to reformation. Much might be done to aid the missionary 
in accomplishing these praiseworthy objects, by the coopera- 
tion of the Christian men and women in these cities, in 
bringing to bear their influence among these classes, to give 
him access by attending him in his labors among them, and 
by rendering such assistance in the prosecution of schemes 
of instruction and improvement among them and their 
children, as they, in their sphere, are able to contribute. Such 
a plan, to be successful, must be followed up with prudence 
and energy. Zealous, soul-loving, self-sacrificing, active, able 
men ought they to be who are selected for this work. But it 
is the only plan which can ever reach a large portion of the 
inhabitants of our cities. "Without it, they must remain as 
now, destitute and heathenish, and die in our midst without 
appropriate effort by the Church to save them; but, adopted 
and wisely and energetically pursued, it fulfills all the con- 
ditions necessary to meet the moral wants of these classes. 
Its effect would be to diminish the amount of crime, of pub- 
lic disorder, and violence — to improve their thrift and to 
divert to employments more legitimate and useful — to increase 
the number who attend the regular places of worship — to 
establish, by occasional revivals and frequent conversions, 
new societies, or to greatly augment existing ones — to brino* 
the rising generation under elevating influences, intellectual 
and moral, and thereby to put in motion just that system of 
means upon which real and permanent progress most depends. 
Now, it is idle to feel that, because the agencies of Metho- 



208 PROGRESS. 

dism are brought to the confines of these destitute people in 
town and country, and they are encompassed within the limits 
of the Church's jurisdiction, that therefore the Church's obli- 
gations in the premises are fulfilled. The Church is hound 
to be aggressive in her agency, and Methodism is founded 
upon the great principle, that the Church is not to be sought 
for, but is herself to seek out the wayward and the lost. These 
people in our midst are as emphatically proper objects of 
missionary labor as any other in the destitute regions of the 
earth; and existing among us, easy of access, and capable, 
when converted, of becoming in a powerful sense tributary 
to our strength and influence, we are bound, by the ties of 
social relations, as well as by all the obligations of love to 
Grod and usefulness to men, to provide them the necessary 
facilities for their suitable enlightenment and salvation. And 
whatever we may be doing in prosecution of the missionary 
cause elsewhere, the Church's missionary function is but im- 
perfectly developed, until this our field at home is thoroughly 
and completely occupied. 

Secondly : The foreign population in our midst. It is one 
of the signal advantages of our institution of slavery, that it 
tends to discourage the influx of foreigners among us. Hence, 
while in the Northern States there is a tide of immigration, 
for the most part of the lowest ranks of Europe, which 'is 
introducing every species of discord and commotion, and 
threatens to revolutionize the whole framework of society, 
we are comparatively free from their intrusion and violence. 
Still, they are to be found in our midst, and especially in our 
cities, and in the more Western States. We are bound so to 
develop the missionary function, as to provide for them. The 
stability of our civil institutions, and the peace and good 
order of society, require the application to them of the restrain- 
ing, transforming agencies of a pure Christianity. In the 
character in which they generally present themselves to us, 



THE MISSIONARY FUNCTION. 209 

they are ignorant — enslaved by the worst forms of religion 
— or debased by the absence of all religion — and hence are 
unfit for a government so lax as ours. They are, for the 
most part, turbulent, violent, and ungovernable, and infuse 
elements of discord which unhappily disturb social peace and 
social progress. Self-defence, therefore, and a proper regard 
for our own institutions — for our own peace and progress — 
demand that we should use the only instrumentalities likely 
to subject these elements to order and mould them into the 
type of our own orderly citizens — 'the instrumentalities of an 
enlightened, reforming Christianity. Moreover, these people 
are proper objects of missionary effort. For, while most of 
them are without religion, or, if not, are of that class of Ro- 
man Catholics who are without a knowledge of the funda- 
mentals of salvation, they are effectually removed from the 
appliances of the gospel, of ordinary application in our midst, 
and consequently, if not served specifically by missionary- 
effort, are effectually shut out from all the instrumentalities 
of a saving Christianity. And even in reference to that class 
of foreigners who were in their own land taught in the right 
religion, without a knowledge of our own language, as to 
many of them, and as to all, unused to those modes among 
us through which they would spontaneously put themselves 
in the way of our regular Christian operations, they will be 
served by right and efficient Christian agency while here, 
only as they are provided for them by missionary exertion. 
But if we are doing any thing for the cause of missions, why 
not embrace these among the objects of our efforts. They 
are in our midst, and easy of access, and the very efficiency 
of the Church at home demands the removal of the antago- 
nism they present, and the tributary influence which their 
proper subjection would secure. These foreigners, though 
living in our midst, yet still maintain many points of contact 
with the people they have left behind them in foreign lands, 



210 PROGRESS. 

and their conversion would open up important channels of 
communication with the dark regions of the old continent, 
through which might be made to flow back the enlightening, 
saving elements of a pure life-giving Christianity. Their 
conversion, then, would increase the missionary power of the 
Church, and augment her facilities in spreading the light of 
Christianity in foreign lands. The effective operation of mis- 
sionary effort among the German population would be felt in 
no small degree, even in Europe ; and the conversion to Chris- 
tianity of the fast-increasing Chinese population of California 
would contribute as much to the speedy evangelization of 
China as could any combination of missionary effort imme- 
diately there. Every consideration, then, of duty and sound 
policy, demands such development of the missionary function 
as embraces these classes within the sphere of its most active 
enterprise. 

Thirdly: The slave population of the South. Slavery, 
both abstractly and concretely, is defensible on the ground 
of both philosophy and Scripture. But the slave has all the 
relations to Grod which his master sustains, and the slave 
state cannot be lawfully used, to shut out whatever is neces- 
sary to the fulfillment of the conditions which grow out of 
these relations. This would be to put that power between God 
and his creatures to the injury of the immortal interests of 
those creatures, and the defeat of his purposes in respect of 
them. Whatever other powers and relations the institution 
of slavery may of right subject to human control, that con- 
trol has no right to touch those which connect the soul 
immediately with Grod and eternity. The institution of 
slavery, therefore, must not be allowed to work a forfeiture 
of religious privileges and opportunities. These constitute a 
sphere which it must not, because it cannot lawfully, restrain 
or appropriate. On the contrary, the very fact of such sub- 
jection as incapacitates them for seeking and providing foi 



THE MISSIONARY FUNCTION. 211 

themselves religious advantages, transfers the responsibility 
to those who maintain this state of things, and brings them 
under as much obligation to provide for the slave these ad- 
vantages as would the slave be, with the light and freedom 
of his master, to provide them for himself. If slavery im- 
plies a condition of disability, whereby those embraced in it 
are precluded from positive effort to secure for themselves the 
appliances of the gospel, then it devolves upon those who 
maintain this state, to compensate this disadvantage, by them- 
selves assuming the business of supplying all the agencies 
which their moral relations demand. No arrangement for 
which man is responsible, or which he perpetuates, can be 
allowed to interfere with any of God's claims upon any of 
the children of men. God contemplates such a provision of 
religious privileges for the slave, when, after specifying the 
duties of the slave in his sphere, he says unto masters, 
"Give unto your servants that which is just and equal." 
Slavery is a patriarchal system, by which the master assumes 
the care of his slaves, as the parent does that of his children; 
and just as children must have, by the parents' act, the 
appliances of the gospel, so must slaves have provided for 
them all requisite facilities for their own personal salvation. 
They are in our hands, dependent as well for their eternal 
hopes as for their physical comfort upon us. It is with us to 
determine whether they shall live in heathenish degradation 
and perish in their sins, or whether, with such religious pri- 
vileges as we enjoy, they shall rise from their moral debase- 
ment and live forever. Moreover, this relation of dependence 
they sustain to us, gives to us a capacity of moral power over 
them which will greatly enhance the inherent influence of 
any such agencies as are appropriate to the salvation of souls, 
and gives us peculiar advantages to make available these 
agencies in their own behalf. What master, then, who 
rightly appreciates the importance of human salvation and his 



212 PROGRESS. 

own final accountability, can feel that his whole duty is ful- 
filled — that he is innocent — while his slaves are denied all 
needful religious privileges ? It was, doubtless, a prominent 
design of Providence, in recognizing the institution of 
slavery, that, by the relation in which it placed the enlight- 
ened to this inferior race, it would, at the same time that it 
devolved upon the former the duty, would secure to them the 
required opportunities of affording to the latter those ad- 
vantages, which alone could be successful in their moral 
elevation and final salvation. So inferior were this race 
naturally, in both intellectual and moral endowment, that it 
is probable that nothing short of constant contact with the 
ameliorating influences which this institution opens the way 
for, could be effectual for the realization in them of the con- 
templated objects of the gospel. These people, in their 
original home, would, perhaps, have been incapable of appro- 
priation by the ordinary instrumentalities of missionary labor ; 
but among us, in a state of slavery, with all the advantages 
of access and amelioration which it allows, the gospel has 
facilities to render itself effectual in their ultimate triumphant 
evangelization, and to send them back to their original land, 
as they are being occasionally sent, the only missionaries 
likely to be successful in giving Christianity to the black 
races of the African continent. The very nature of the insti- 
tution of slavery, therefore, and the relation which it sustains 
to God's own purposes, impose upon us, as a Church, the 
unavoidable duty to provide for the black population of the 
South the religious advantages they may need. 

These people have immortal souls, and they can be evange- 
lized, only as the light of the gospel is diffused among them. 
Apart from our peculiar relation to them as their owners, 
they have, in any view, as much claim upon our efforts to 
enlighten and save them as any other class of people — a 
claim stronger than that of many others, by as much as their 



THE MISSIONARY FUNCTION. 213 

relative position gives us easiness of access, and every con- 
venient facility for the use of the required efforts in their 
behalf. If missionary effort is demanded of us at all, these 
are proper objects; and no claim coming up from other quar- 
ters can justify their neglect, 

The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, sustains a peculiar 
relation to this population. The very reason of her distinc-. 
tive organization as a Church, grew out of her unwillingness 
to relinquish her privilege to serve the slaves of the South ; 
and, coming into a separate existence upon this basis, she is 
committed before men and God to this praiseworthy work. 
The slave population, cut off from all relationship to all other 
churches, is dependent for the light that is to bless them 
upon those alone of the South ; and to the Methodist Episco- 
pal Church, South, more than all others, perhaps, this sacred 
trust is committed. Let us appreciate this high calling, and 
prove ourselves equal to the responsibility. The world may 
vent their fanatic spleen, and spend their time in vain and 
hollow rantings in behalf of the Southern negro, while the 
thousands of the destitute in their own midst are perishing 
in squalor and moral wretchedness; but let us, conscious of 
the superiority of the condition of this people above that of 
all others of like grade in any society — conscious of the ab- 
stract right and moral propriety of the institution itself — 
more earnestly than ever address ourselves to the work of 
their salvation, and prove ourselves their best friends, by our 
direct efforts to elevate their moral condition, and promote 
their real welfare. 

The plan already adopted by the Church, in her organic 
capacity, of supplying the moral wants of this class by the 
establishment of missions among them, and the appointment 
of missionaries to serve them, is the most expedient and 
suitable. On plantations, and removed, as to a large portion 
of them, from the instrumentalities of ordinary employment 



214 



PROGRESS 



among the white population, these instrumentalities are not 
sufficient to reach them • and even where they are so situated 
as to be embraced within their sphere, they need such agen- 
cies as are more specifically appointed and adapted to them. 
It is the extension of this plan, so as to cover this whole 
population, making them in their entire extent the objects of 
missionary effort, that the proper development of this func- 
tion of the Church requires. It is hardly to be expected that 
the Church should convey, by missionary enterprise, the gos- 
pel to all the heathen at once. This is to be done, under any 
circumstances perhaps, gradually, and as the work of time ; 
but, embraced as this population is, under an institution in 
the responsibilities of which, everywhere, every man con- 
nected with it is involved, and encompassing, as the limits of 
the Church's jurisdiction do, the whole extent of this popu- 
lation, making the relation of the Church the same in respect 
of every part of it, there are special obligations upon the 
Church to make the same provision at once for the whole as 
for a part; and she therefore comes short of her duty, as 
long as there is any portion of this extended field not fully 
occupied by her well-appointed missionary agency. 

But it is not enough that the Church authorities provide 
a scheme of missionary effort, coextensive with the entire 
limits of this population, there must be, in addition, a hearty 
practical cooperation in these measures of usefulness by their 
owners themselves. First, because without their cooperation 
this system of means cannot have such access to those for 
whom it is designed, necessary to full success ; and, secondly, 
because owners, from their relative position to this class, and 
the moral influence which, by the right manifestation of zeal 
for their immortal interests they are capable of obtaining over 
them, may become the most efficient instruments in the pro- 
motion of their religious welfare. This cooperation is properly 
exhibited by the adoption of suitable measures to open the 



THE MISSIONARY FUNCTION. 215 

way for the missionary, that lie may have ample opportunity 
to labor with the negroes, in the use of the right means for 
their instruction; also, by encouragement afforded and op- 
portunities given, to avail themselves of all the means of im- 
provement within their range, as well those arising out of the 
regular system of religious agency intended for the whites, 
as those which arise more immediately out of the missionary 
system designed for them ; and finally, and perhaps chiefly, 
in respect of Christian owners, by a bright example, by the 
manifestation of a personal interest in behalf of the souls of 
their people, by seizing frequent opportunities kindly to in- 
struct them through private converse, and by giving such 
supervision as will encourage them to maintain a system of 
religious meetings among themselves at their own homes — in 
short, by the adoption of every expedient within their control, 
calculated to remove ignorance, to rectify the life, and to lead 
them in the way to heaven. Religious owners generally are 
without proper conceptions of their duty to their negroes, or 
of the many methods by which they could be useful in pro- 
moting their moral weal. Many, with all the lights of salva- 
tion themselves, are unconcerned for these, their household, 
who are dying from the lack of the bread of life. Many are 
zealously, and perhaps usefully engaged for others, while 
their own people, among whom they could be more efficient 
laborers than in all other fields, are, in respect of all religious 
appliances, comparatively uncared for and forgotten. In re- 
gard to this population in some quarters, it may be said, the 
heathen are at our doors, and if we are under obligations to 
extend the gospel anywhere, these our own people have para- 
mount claims upon us. There is a rapid improvement in 
process in the Church, in respect of her consciousness of the 
claims of this people, and in the response made to them. 
The statistics of the Church, as well as observation of her 
actual history, show, that within recent years vast progress 



216 PROGRESS. 

has been made in her efforts to confer upon the black popu- 
lation right religious privileges. Our aim has been to show 
that this progress ought to go on, and with accelerated ra- 
pidity, since, until it is completed in the provision of suitable 
religious privileges for the whole of this people, the right 
development of the Church's missionary function is itself 
incomplete. 

Fourthly: Foreign lands. The mission to China is the 
only one now maintained by the Southern Methodist Church 
in foreign lands. How limited does such operations appear, 
when considered in the light of the vast millions who are 
perishing in destitution and wretchedness, and whose means 
of rescue are deposited alone with the Christian world ! Nor 
can we be excused for this meagreness and insufficiency of 
effort, on the ground of our own limitedness, and that this is 
the whole of our just proportion of the work. The Metho- 
dist Church, South, embraces a no small proportion of all the 
really evangelical part of the world, and under any system 
of missionary enterprise which encompassed any thing like 
the whole extent of the heathen world, a vastly larger section 
than that now embraced in the few points occupied in China, 
would fall to her lot. And what, too, is this small mission in 
China, when considered in respect of the actual ability of 
Southern Methodism ? With the pecuniary means, and the 
men, to dot the whole continents of Asia and Africa and the 
important isles of the sea, how can she feel content with this 
single manifestation of appreciation of the claims of the 
heathen world, with this lone enterprise to fulfil her pressing 
responsibility to give the gospel to the destitute of the earth ? 
The vast work to be done by the Christian world, in the 
universal extension of the gospel, and to which the Church 
is everywhere so invitingly and pressingly urged, and the 
ample resources of our Church which might be rendered 
available to it, but which are yet unapplied, demonstrate that 



THE MISSIONARY FUNCTION. 217 

the proper expansion of the Church's missionary function 
requires that a successful effort should now he made, greatly 
to widen the sphere of her foreign missionary enterprise. 
"Whatever may he the extent of missionary effort at home, 
yet there is something contracted in the spirit of Christianity 
as long as that effort is thus restricted ; and that element of 
expansion which gives to Christian experience and Christian 
manifestation its completest expression, and invests it with 
its highest glory and excellence, is only to be realized in the 
full exhibition of this higher, most disinterested form, of mis- 
sionary enterprise. But missionary effort, even at home, can 
never be adequately brought out without the suggestive, 
stimulating, reflex influence of foreign enterprise. The mis- 
sion to China, as small a demonstration as it is, has done more 
to enlist the Church in the cause of missions, to develop the 
spirit of missions, and to educate the Church generally to a 
right appreciation of their claims, than any other single 
agency. These foreign missions stand out as lights visible to 
all, constantly reminding them of their relations to this cause, 
and cultivating, in progressive degrees, the ideas of interest 
and of personal responsibility. 

The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, therefore, is bound 
by every consideration of duty and of interest, to enlarge the 
sphere of her missionary enterprise abroad, by a multiplication 
of the fields occupied ; and until she fulfills this condition, 
she is recreant to the responsibilities which the right develop- 
ment of her missionary function impose. 



10 



SECTION VI. 

THE MINISTERIAL FUNCTION. 

In the Methodist Church, the ministry have the manage- 
ment of the government of the Church. This is believed to 
be both Scriptural and expedient. The terms of Church 
membership being already fixed by the Word of God, 
Church government has no function of legislation affecting 
the relations of the laity. Its sphere of action, as it respects 
the whole Church, is limited to two functions — the execu- 
tive and advisory — executive, as to the laws governing the 
membership already established in the Word of Cod, and 
advisory, as to the plans of enterprise and usefulness pro- 
posed. Thus limited, it is perceived that though invested 
with the entire government, the power of the ministry over 
the laity is narrowly confined. God is the legislator of the 
Church, and his ministers are the mere executors of his laws, 
and the superior guides to point out the methods of his own 
ordainment for the progress of his cause. Thus viewed, it 
is evident that most of the argument which has been urged 
in defence of lay representation in Church government, is 
wholly inapplicable, founded as it is upon the false concep- 
tion of the prerogative of Church government, to affect by 
legislative enactment the rights and relations of the laity. 

Our ideas of the popular character of civil government have 
much contributed to give currency to the theory of lay repre- 
sentation in Church government, and frequently interfere to 
prevent right conceptions upon this subject. But it is a 
fundamental error, to argue from civil to ecclesiastical govern- 
ment. They are directly antipodal as to their sources. The 
one comes from the people, and has no authority except as it 

(2is; 



THE MINISTERIAL FUNCTION. 219 

is sanctioned by them : the other comes immediately from 
God, and derives all its authority from him, the " one law- 
giver." The one is created by the people, and the other is 
created for the people. Because they participate in the 
management of that which they themselves create, it is no 
reason they should appropriate that which they do not create, 
but which has its centre in the great God of all, and to which 
they are designed only to be subject. This fundamental 
distinction, as to the immediate sources of civil and ecclesias- 
tical governments, must be kept in view, as showing that 
nothing can be analogically inferred from the one as to the 
nature of the other, touching this question. Indeed, the 
very fact that ecclesiastical government has its origin directly 
in God, and is made for the people and not by them — the 
very fact that it is theocratic in its character — furnishes an 
argument, that it is not to be popularized by a general parti- 
cipancy of the masses in it, but rather that it is to be exclu- 
sively in the hands of the ministry, that that theocratic char- 
acter may be maintained. Such a government has more of the 
elements which secure to it dignity and authority, and hence 
possesses more of the characteristics which inspire reverence 
for God and his law. When the masses participate in the 
government of the Church, their very conscious power to 
fashion and control it reduces it to their own level and divests 
it of its sanctity and awe ; but when in the hands of the minis* 
try, the very sacredness of the trust thus reposed in them 
tends to inspire them with an awful sense of its character 
and their own high responsibilties, while the removal of it 
above the laity, and the commitment of it to those whose 
office and position they regard with peculiar reverence, con- 
tributes greatly to the respect they entertain for it, and to 
the cultivation of a right sense of the dignity and authority 
of God's law. The theocratical character of Church govern- 
ment shows, that it is not an arrangement which men are to 



220 PROGRESS 

seize upon to promote their own views of religious interests, 
but the system of God himself, authoritatively provided to 
regulate his own subjects, and to train them to such princi- 
ples of obedience and reverence as fits them for his higher 
kingdom in heaven. It is not a government, therefore, 
which the masses fashion and control, that fulfills the true 
conditions of Church government, but one which is admin- 
istered by those who, occupying an intermediate position 
in official rank between them and God, have the neces- 
sary qualifications to inspire their reverence and to enforce 
authority. 

But there are other considerations, which place this ques- 
tion beyond all doubt. 

Most, if not all, orthodox Churches recognize the doctrine 
of a divine call to the ministry. By which is meant, sub- 
stantially, that God designates those persons whom he designs 
to be his ministers — - either by some providential indications 
of an external character, which are clearly to be discerned, 
or by some internal impressions upon the mind, or by both. 
The ministry, therefore, by God's own designation and ap- 
pointment, occupy a higher relation in the Church, and by 
virtue of this call, have the sanction of God as enjoying pre- 
cedence and superior authority in the affairs of the Church. 
It would seem, therefore, that being thus set apart exclu- 
sively to the work of the Church, and sustaining a higher 
relation to all Church interests, and officially a nearer rela- 
tion to God himself, it comports with the scheme of Heaven, 
that the management of whatever constitutes the immediate 
affairs of the Church should be committed to them. Minis- 
ters are God's own ambassadors, commissioned by himself as 
his representatives to manage and advance the interests of 
his cause : it would seem, therefore, that it is fit and conform- 
able to his purpose, that to them alone should be given the 
administration of the government of his Church. And this 



THE MINISTERIAL FUNCTION. 221 

seems the more conclusive, when we consider the functions 
which alone pertain to Church government. If these em- 
braced the legislative, so far as to effect the relations of the 
laity, individually, then it might be too much to intrust 
powers so far-reaching and important to any one class of 
human beings, but being only administrative and advisory, 
there seems to be a peculiar fitness in committing such a 
trust to those who, being called of God to the great work of 
his Church, and designated as his special representatives, 
must have peculiar qualifications to manage these affairs, and 
to secure that confidence and respect which those exercising 
these rights should enjoy. The executive and counsellors of 
all governments are supposed to be restricted to a few, 
selected in view of peculiar qualifications; and what class 
are better adapted to these high offices in the Church of Grod, 
than those whom he himself has called and set apart as spe- 
cially devoted to his cause ? 

But we maintain that the government of the Church ought 
to be committed to the ministry, because they have qualifi- 
cations for this business superior to those of the laity. 

1. As a class, they have superior knowledge of those matters 
involved in the government of the Church. Confined as 
Church government is to its two functions, the qualifications, 
as to knowledge required, are a clear apprehension of law, 
of the modes of its practical administration, and of the 
methods of usefulness. Now, such knowledge, the ministry, 
as a class, always possess in a higher degree than do the laity. 
First, they are devoted more exclusively, as the occupation 
of life, to these subjects. While the laity necessarily, from 
their circumstances, can give attention to them, as the mere 
incidental and occasional employment of life, the ministry are 
devoted to them as their regular business, as the all-engross- 
ing aim of life. Second, because they have a more enlarged 
and fresher experience in respect of these matters, and con- 



222 PROGRESS. 

sequently are more fully informed as to their practical opera- 
tions and relations. 

2. As a class, they have more zeal and earnestness in ad- 
ministering the affairs of government, and prosecuting its 
objects. First, because they have the obligations laid upon 
them by their call to their work, to quicken and inflame their 
zeal. Second, they are free from the secular entanglements 
which hinder the laity, and have the interests of the Church 
as the exclusive concern of life. It is their business to be 
engaged, and always engaged, in the public affairs of the 
Church ; and the very success of life is measured by the ear- 
nestness and constancy with which their attention is given to 
them. Third, because, consecrated to these sacred employ- 
ments, and, therefore, in constant contact with the means of 
grace, they are more constantly and pressingly alive to those 
influences and motives which interest the soul in these high 
interests. 

3. They have greater opportunities than the laity, to manage 
the affairs of Church government. First, they are not ham- 
pered by secular pursuits, but have all their time to dispose 
of in the prosecution of these interests. Second, their em- 
ployments and relationships, as ministers, put them in circum- 
stances in which much greater facilities are enjoyed for giving 
practical effect to opinion, and for projecting and realizing 



4. They can impart to government much more unity, 
energy, and promptness. These are characteristics indispen- 
sable to all successful Church organization. In the operations 
of the Church, law is enforced, government is potent, not by 
virtue of threatened penalty, but alone by virtue of the 
efficient, energetic action of the organization itself. It is of 
the utmost importance, therefore, that that organization be so 
constituted as to secure to its own action the highest amount 
of unity, decision, and energy. A government of the minis- 



THE MINISTERIAL FUNCTION. 223 

try, is the most favorably constituted to secure these results. 
First, the reverence felt toward them inspires respect for 
their proceedings, and confidence in their integrity and fit- 
ness. Second, the limitedness of their number, and the 
compactness of their body, give facilities for concert and quick 
decision, while their dispersed condition, in all the precincts 
of the land, gives opportunity for prompt and vigorous prac- 
tical execution. Third, their zeal and earnestness both 
awaken and sustain energy among the masses, and give to 
all Church movements the highest vigor and constancy. 

Incontestably, therefore, the ministry have more of the 
positive qualifications necessary to fit them for the executive 
and advisory functions of Church government, which em- 
brace all that belong to it, than any other class of men. 

But while they have all these superior qualifications, they 
have, at the same time, from the relations they sustain, thrown 
around them, just those restraints and safeguards best calcu- 
lated to prevent an abuse of power. 

The various denominations into which the people of G-od 
are and ought to be divided, will always be mutual checks 
upon each other, and will contribute to maintain a state of 
public opinion by which any excesses, any departures from 
the legitimate sphere of Church action, will always be at once 
noticed and discountenanced. In such a state of things, 
among an enlightened people, it will be impossible for the 
governors of the Church, though they may be few and con- 
fined to a certain class, to abuse their powers. Such a course, 
if desired by them, would be avoided, because it would be 
suicidal — it would arouse a storm of opposition that would 
soon defeat their own schemes, either by their own individual 
overthrow, or that of the organization upon which their autho- 
rity depends ; and such a course, if fallen into accidentally, 
or as the result of error and mistake, would very soon be 
corrected by the pressure of surrounding circumstances. 



224 PROGRESS. 

But there is another restraint upon the ministry, as the 
governors of the Church, which seems to have precise adapta- 
tion to the object, and to be an intentional result in the 
arrangement of God's providence. 

That class of the ministry, to whom we suppose the govern- 
ment to be exclusively committed, is composed of men who 
are devoted without reserve to the business of the Church — 
so entirely so that, by the appointment of Heaven, they are to 
derive that material aid and support which they, like all other 
human beings require, not by their own direct efforts, but 
from the Church whom they govern. In this we witness a 
beautiful fitness. For while those who are devoted exclu- 
sively to the Church, and, consequently, understand her 
interests best, are to administer her affairs, those who are 
engaged in the employments of secular life, and are, there- 
fore, best qualified for success in them, are to supply these 
their spiritual guides with the resources needed from them. 
And this dependence, thus felt by the ministry, is precisely 
of the character to furnish the motives required, in the last 
resort, to hold them to a faithful discharge of their high trust. 
As long as there is in them right piety, combined with suit- 
able knowledge, no other guarantee is needed; but in this 
dependence upon the laity there is constantly furnished a 
motive that will- be controlling, even when all others are 
absent, so that the assurance is given that in any, even the 
worse state of things, all the safeguards will be enjoyed 
against the consequences of an abuse or usurpation of power, 
on the one hand, and of indifference and neglect on the 
other. 

While human nature is depraved, and liable to the obstruc- 
tions in the path of duty which so abound in this scene of 
existence, it may be expected, in spite of all these barriers, 
that in the history of the Church, occasional instances will 
occur of dereliction or excess, even among the ministry, in 



THE MINISTERIAL FUNCTION. 225 

the administration of Church affairs ; but these are liable to 
any system that may be devised, and, perhaps, under no 
circumstances can be successfully provided against. These 
restraints, however, are sufficient to preserve this system, as 
to its general operation, against all such consequences, ren- 
dering it, in fact, more safe in these respects than any other, 
perhaps, which the conditions of humanity will allow. 

But if the ministry have superior qualifications for the 
management of Church government, and there are influences 
surrounding them, which, apart from their own trustworthi- 
ness, will insure their faithfulness in the discharge of the 
trust, it follows that it is to them that it ought to be com- 
mitted. 

But there may be those who, admitting all this, yet con- 
tend that something is nevertheless gained by a participancy 
of the laity in Church government — that it is an element 
necessary to the most complete system. We maintain, how- 
ever, that so far from this being true, any infusion of the lay 
element, that has any potency at all, is a positive disad- 
vantage, and to that extent, trammels and injures the system. 

Any system which gives the laity coordinate, or like power 
with the ministry in the government of the Church, neces- 
sarily, in practical operation, subjects the latter to the former, 
and degrades them to an inferior position in respect of influ- 
ence, in the public affairs of the Church. The laity, under 
any system where the pecuniary support of the Church is 
voluntary, necessarily wield an immense power over the 
ministry — a power, as we have shown, sufficiently great to 
insure them against tyranny and aggression, even when the 
ministry are the exclusive governors. When, then, by virtue 
of the Church's constitution, they are made equals, or if not 
equals, placed where 'they may participate in like powers, 
then, of course, practically their influence must predominate, 
10* 



226 PROGRESS. 

and the ministry be made to sustain a subordinate position. 
Nor need it be said that this advantage is counterbalanced by 
the reverence entertained for the ministerial office, and the 
advantages for influence which this confers. It is idle to 
maintain, that mere sentiment will long weigh against clearly 
guaranteed constitutional rights and privileges ; and equally 
idle to maintain, that such sentiment will control, when to 
these rights and privileges are superadded the most potent 
of all influences, the money power. The Queen of Great 
Britain has the prerogative of declaring war and concluding 
peace, and as important as is this prerogative, yet her sub- 
jects feel safe in intrusting it to her, because the money 
power, so intimately involved in its exercise, is in the hands 
of Parliament. The world is well acquainted with the 
potency of this agency, and it needs no long experience to 
appreciate the fact, that in such a combination in the manage- 
ment of Church affairs, the ministerial element will neces- 
sarily succumb to the lay. We might appeal to the history 
of the churches for confirmation of this view, and in all 
churches with the lay element where this result has not 
ensued, it will be found that this element is so feeble as to be 
totally inefficient, as inoperative, as to any good as to any 
harm. 

But what is the effect of this depression of ministerial 
influence — this subordination of the position of the ministry 
in the important affairs of Church government ? 

1st. It engenders a spirit of irreverence for God and his 
authority, and low views of the sanctity and obligation of his 
law. For ministers are the marked representatives of the 
religion of Christ, and any degradation or depression of their 
position, must necessarily work an injurious modification of 
the general estimate of its dignity and sacredness. In this 
state of things, all experience a sense of equality and per- 



THE MINISTERIAL FUNCTION. 227 

sonal independence — all idea of gradations in rank and 
authority is lost — insubordination and lawlessness prevail, 
and the ends of government are defeated. 

2nd. In making the influence of the laity predominate in 
the management of the affairs of the Church, it necessarily 
trammels and hinders her movements. For, engrossed as 
they are in secular avocations, and confined as each individu- 
ally is to a fixed locality, they of course can not manifest the 
same spirit of enterprise in respect of Church operations, or 
have the same facilities in following out projected plans, as 
if, like the ministry, they were exclusively consecrated to 
these high interests. When, therefore, their influence is so 
paramount, as that they are looked to as the leading and con- 
trolling movers in Church affairs, when the position of the 
ministry is so secondary that they cannot move efficiently, 
unless as they are led on and directed by the laity — then, of 
course, Church action in all respects must be less enterprising 
and efficient than when the other order obtains, of the supe- 
rior and predominent influence of the ministry. Such a sys- 
tem, therefore, trammels the energies of the Church, retards 
all her movements, and perpetually holds in check all her ex- 
pansive powers. 

3d. It hinders the development of enterprise in respecct 
of all those plans of usefulness which demand pecuniary ex- 
penditure. For laymen who, under this system, are consti- 
tuted leaders, giving but a portion of their time to these in- 
terests, cannot be so well qualified to project, or to rally the 
Church to the enterprises of usefulness which the various 
stages of her progress justify and demand — cannot, in fact, 
feel that constant pressure of obligation necessary to keep 
them always alive to all openings of usefulness; and even if 
they were as well qualified to meet these responsibilities as 
those devoting their whole time to these interests, yet in re- 
ference to those involving pecuniary outlay, constituting as 



228 PROGRESS. 

they do the party upon whom the duty of liberality mainly 
devolves, there would naturally be some reluctance to enter 
fully upon them, so that in these respects, as long as they are 
leaders, the movements of the Church would always be in 
the rear of her actual capabilities and obligations. The laity 
always need that guidance and stimulus in respect of all plans 
of usefulness, and especially those demanding pecuniary out- 
lay, which wise and pious heads, such as the ministry, acting 
independently and authoritatively, will afford. When left to 
themselves, many of the most useful functions are not likely 
to be developed, correspondingly with the demands and pro- 
gress of the age. 

4th. This system would work injuriously to the cause, by 
the various strife which it would occasion. Controlled as the 
Church chiefly is, under this system, by laymen of fixed lo- 
calities, the tendency would be constantly manifested in each, 
to manage the affairs of the Church with specific reference to 
his own section. Narrow and circumscribed views would 
naturally enter into the schemes of all, and sectional strife 
would necessarily ensue. In this contest of section, local in- 
fluence would be brought powerfully to bear, and questions 
would be decided according to sectional strength, rather than 
by high considerations of Christian responsibility. These 
difficulties are never experienced, in this controlling sense, 
when the ministry exclusively govern. The whole Church, 
in all its parts, especially when the itinerant system prevails, 
is felt to sustain the same relation to all, and being committed 
to them for protection and guidance, they, free from these 
local preferences, are left more entirely to an unbiassed judg- 
ment and an all-embracing regard, in their decisions and acts 
for the welfare of the general Church. 

How natural it is for men thus identified with particular 
sections, when clothed thus with authority, to allow such 
strifes, particularly when attended by disappointment and de- 



THE MINISTERIAL FUNCTION. 229 

feat, to engender bad passions, especially those of stubbornness, 
envy, and revenge. How easily such authority inflates self- 
esteem, awakens ambition, and elicits a sense of personal 
claims, which too often makes selfish ends paramount to the 
high interests of God's cause, and which, defeated, arouse 
bad passions which the possessor uses his position only to 
gratify, and which, while they destroy his own religious en- 
joyment, work desolation and ruin by the conspicuousness 
which the Church, by her own confidence, has given to his 
unfortunate example. The ministry themselves are liable in 
some degree to these contests and divisions; but their com- 
parative freedom from sectional bias, the compactness of their 
body, the closeness of their association, and consequent mutual 
confidence and regard, their esprit du corps, and the fulness 
and uniformity of their personal Christian experience, elevate 
them above many of the temptations to which their lay breth- 
ren as governors are liable, and secure much greater har- 
mony in their exclusive administration of Church affairs. 

These tendencies and unfortunate results, thus the natural 
sequence of this system, press heavily against an itinerant 
plan of ministerial operations — so much so, indeed, as evidently 
to render such a system totally incompatible with it. 

Such, then, are the effects which would follow the intro- 
duction of the lay principle in the government of the Church, 
and establish beyond doubt such introduction to be inexpe- 
dient and calamitous. Should it be replied, that there are 
Churches in which this principle is recognized, but in whose 
history none of these consequences have been seen, we re- 
mark that this principle may be introduced in all degrees, 
from that in which it barely manifests itself, up to that in 
which it is thoroughly pervading and paramount. Those 
Churches in which it is incorporated, but which have escaped 
these pernicious effects, are those in which it exists in this 
lowest degree — in which, while it enters as a recognized ele 



230 PROGRESS. 

nient, it is yet so limited and feeble as that, though it may be 
nominally claimed, it yet has in no sense the slightest power, 
but is perfectly inert — as lifeless as if it had no existence. 
It is of the principle as having activity and influence, that our 
remarks are predicated, and just in proportion as it has these 
characteristics, we feel certain they will be found to be 
applicable and true. There is a Church organization among 
us in which the lay element is embraced in all its activity 
and vigor, and its history furnishes a complete illustration 
of all we claim as to its direful operation. 

The assertion that the lay element exists in this inert con- 
dition in many of the Churches which provide for it, may not 
be at once obvious, especially as nominally it is decidedly 
operative; but it is nevertheless true, and it is to be ex- 
plained by this general fact, that in all these Churches there 
is a vast difference in the learning and intellectual status 
of the ministry and laity — a difference so obvious, that the 
latter, feeling their inferiority, have so long consented to yield 
to the former, that it has grown up to a large extent as a 
usage, and the laity, therefore, though they have a nominal 
voice in the control of Church operations, yet in fact, are 
without power of any actual impress upon them. But in the 
Methodist Church, between the more advanced of the laity 
and the mass of the ministry, there is not this difference in 
acquirement or intellectual elevation, and this element, there- 
fore, once introduced into her system, would soon be not only 
active but controlling. 

No mistake could be greater than to suppose, that justice 
demands a participancy by the laity in the government of 
the Methodist Church ; indeed, there is obvious injustice and 
inequality in allowing them any thing like a controlling in- 
fluence in her government. As before stated, their rights, 
under any circumstances, are guarded, first, by the nature of 
Church government itself, which denies to rulers any legis- 



THE MINISTERIAL FUNCTION. 231 

>ative control over the laity; and, secondly, by the power 
which they have over the ministry in the control of the 
finances. They are, therefore, secure against oppression, even 
under the exclusive rule of the ministry. But the ministry 
are directly the subjects of Church government; for, as to 
them, it has a legislative function. In the Methodist Church, 
at least, the widest sphere of government action refers to the 
ministry exclusively. It has, in fact, no function of force 
which does not apply exclusively to the ministry. It follows, 
therefore, that to give the laity direct participancy in the 
government, would be to make them rulers in a government 
of which they themselves are independent — would be to 
subject the ministry to them as irresponsible sovereigns, as 
far as their power extended, than which nothing could be 
more unequal, or unjust, or contrary to the whole scheme of 
the Divine economy. 

But if the ministry of the Methodist Church, as we think 
has been established, ought to have the exclusive manage- 
ment of her government, then, in addition to their pulpit 
duties, it is theirs to develop, under their own supervision, 
whatever capability of usefulness may be possible to that 
government. These capabilities are many : in other words, 
there are a vast variety of means indicated by the progress 
of the Church and the condition of society, which, by a pro- 
per expansion of Church government, she may be enabled to 
employ, which would be tributary to the improvement of her 
membership and her aggressive power. In the outset of the 
Methodist Church, both because of the weakness of her own 
internal resources and the condition of society, these means 
were impracticable, and the pulpit had to be relied upon as 
the almost exclusive instrumentality. These various functions 
of usefulness, the government could not then possibly assume. 
But the Church has now become numerous and powerful, her 
resources are vastly increased, and society, for the most part, 



232 PROGRESS 

with more enlightened conceptions, is accessible by all Church 
appliances. Many arrangements supplementary to the pulpit, 
tending to human reformation and elevation, to the stability 
and extension of Christ's kingdom, and to facilitate the ob- 
jects of Church organization, are now, especially in all our 
older communities, practicable. The time has come, there- 
fore, when these ought to be employed ; and being, as it is, 
the business of the ministry to control these affairs, a great 
demand of the times now is, an extension of its functions so 
as to embrace them. 

That it is difficult to change the contracted policy with 
which the Church originally set out, is not denied. The 
original spirit and direction of all great movements of pro- 
tracted existence, are always difficult of thorough modifica- 
tion and change. Hence, among the ministry, the idea, in 
any impressive controlling sense, that there are a vast variety 
of means of usefulness indicated by the condition of the 
Church and the wants of the world, which they are bound to 
set in motion as much so as they are bound to preach, diffuses 
itself slowly. Indeed, the very external arrangements of the 
Church, as far as they affect the ministry, are all unfavorable 
to this idea, fixed as they are with reference to the use of the 
pulpit merely, to the highest availability of preaching ca- 
pacity, and allowing but little opportunity, and furnishing but 
little inducement, for attention to any subordinate agencies. 
While, therefore, there are to be found many preachers who 
feel the responsibility of making all these extensive means 
of doing good an integral part of their appointed duty, and 
are exemplarily engaged in their prosecution, yet a large, and 
perhaps the largest number of our preachers are restricted to 
the pulpit, and beyond that sphere are with difficulty, and 
never habitually, enlisted. 

But a change must be effected. Our scheme of ministerial 
duty must be enlarged : its sphere of operations must be so 



THE MINISTERIAL FUNCTION. 233 

expanded and shaped as to cover this entire field of action. 
The time has come when the advisory and suggestive function 
of onr government may be greatly widened, with advantage 
both to the internal condition of the Church and to her ag- 
gressive capabilities. Unless this policy be adopted, the 
Church will not only be recreant to her own high trust, 
but she will be left behind in the onward march of the forces 
of society — she will be overborne and overwhelmed, sunk, 
either by her own inertness, or by the more vigorous, active 
policy of competing organizations. But this expansive policy 
in the Methodist Church cannot be executed but by her min- 
istry. As the governors of the Church, they are expected to 
lead in all her public movements. It is not difficult to train 
the laity under the wise direction and active oversight of the 
ministry ; but a government in which the ministry hold the 
reins of power always presupposes the origination of all 
measures of public benefit, as well as their practical execu- 
tion, to be with them. And such has been the course of the 
Methodist Church, so habitual the dependence of the laity 
upon the ministry in all her suggestive, administrative func- 
tions, that these various departments of Church action, the 
occupancy of which is now so much demanded, can be ex- 
pected to be practically embraced, only under a system in 
which the ministry assume both the leadership and the actual 
execution. 

There may be a degree of progress attained by the laity 
that will not allow them to be passive j when, seeing their 
constitutional leaders behind the age and laggard in their 
movements for the proper enlargement of the operations 
of the Church, they may be induced to take these matters 
into their own hands, and themselves attempt to do what 
properly belongs to the ministry. But whenever the laity, in 
activity and enterprise, thus get in advance of the ministry, 
a clamor for lay representation may be confidently expected. 



234 PROGRESS. 

The ministry, under such circumstances, cannot long retain 
the reins of power. In a government like that of 'the Church, 
in which changes may be made without fear of penalty, no 
one class can long retain the exclusive control, without such 
manifestation of entire qualification for their position which a 
full and faithful performance of all that is expected of them 
affords. The guarantees to the ministry of a permanent re- 
tention of their high prerogatives, as exclusive Church 
governors, rest altogether in such proofs of their fitness for 
them, as are given in their fulfilment of what is conceived to 
be the entire sphere of their duties. It is this failure of the 
Church, to bring into practical execution many functions of 
usefulness appropriate to their position, and indicated by the 
wants of the times — it is this falling into the rear in enter- 
prise and in expansive Church operations, of what the prevail- 
ing sentiment of an intelligent laity recognizes as called for 
by the existing circumstances of the Church, that has sug- 
gested the demand, faintly coming up from some quarters, for 
the introduction into our system of a greater amount of the 
popular element. Under such circumstances, such demand 
is by no means unnatural : indeed, it is but a natural sequence. 
To suppress this faintly-rising dissatisfaction, indeed, to main- 
tain the integrity of our present form of Church government, 
it is evident that the time has come when our ministry must 
abandon her narrow and restricted policy, and when, with a 
more intelligent grasp of the moral condition of the world, she 
must rightly judge of the capabilities of the Church for use- 
fulness, and rest content with nothing short of the employ- 
ment of every such as promises good to men. 

To secure this, the ministry must be made to feel it an 
essential and indispensable part of their calling, and conse- 
quently of binding obligation. There is no difficulty in se- 
curing from the ministry faithful attention to the duties of 
the pulpit, for the reason, that being taught that it is of the 



THE MINISTERIAL FUNCTION. 235 

essence of their high calling to perform labor of this kind, 
that it is this which constitutes their distinctive and essential 
work, they are directed to it as that which they are hound to 
do, and all the obligations which press upon them to do the 
work of ministers at all, impel them to this as their peculiar 
work. Now if, in the estimation of the ministry, these other 
functions could be recognized as just as indispensable, and 
the same obligations to discharge them could be experienced, 
of course they would be looked to as a part of their regular 
business, in the same sense that the pulpit now is, and would 
be attended to with the same earnestness, promptness, and 
regularity. Their very vagueness and undefined character, 
heretofore, have prevented them from occupying this high 
place, as an integral part of the work of the ministry, and has 
constituted them in general estimation a field of action, the 
extent of whose occupancy by the ministry was for the most 
part optional and immaterial. 

Now, to give these various duties that distinctness and pro- 
minence necessary to enlist the conscience of the whole min- 
istry in them, as a constituent part of their regular duty, 
several steps are necessary. 

They themselves, and the practical methods of their fulfill- 
ment, must be thoroughly understood. It is always difficult, 
if not utterly impracticable, to enlist the conscience in any 
thing as a matter of personal duty, which is but vaguely and 
imperfectly comprehended. And it is this principle which 
accounts for the fact, that the Methodist ministry have so par- 
tially incorporated these subordinate methods of usefulness. 
Distinct information, proper knowledge in regard to these 
subjects, diffused among the mass of the ministry, is the ex- 
isting want. This, among honest, earnest ministers, is all 
they need to feel the obligation of their personal engagement 
in them ; and this conviction of obligation among such will be 
intense and controlling always in the precise ratio of the dis- 



236 PROGRESS. 

tinctness and fullness of that knowledge. Every practicable 
scheme, therefore, ought to be adopted, to diffuse among our 
ministry enlightened and well-defined views of the entire 
range of useful operations possible to the Church. For this 
purpose, our annual Conferences ought to take more time 
for their deliberations, that they may bring fully in review all 
the various interests of the Church. The circumstances of 
the Church, in an age so progressive as ours, are constantly 
indicating new objects of usefulness, and new methods of 
enterprise, and bodies like these, composed of intelligent 
minds and zealous hearts, sitting upon the interests of the 
Church, and deliberately and solemnly devoting themselves 
to the proper unfolding of every indicated plan of usefulness, 
would be likely to know what. to suggest and bring out, in 
organized form, as best adapted to give highest activity to 
the entire energies of the Church. By these deliberations, 
new schemes would be originated, old ones would be perfected, 
and light would be diffused, as to the whole range of minis- 
terial duty. At all events, more time should be given to the 
missionary, educational, literature, and Sunday-school in- 
terests of the Church, and to all those matters constituting 
the pastoral function of the ministry. These are the great 
objects, in regard to which the sphere of ministerial operation 
now needs enlargement ) and investigative attention to them, 
interchange of thought and feeling about them, deliberately, 
thoroughly, and solemnly, by these bodies of ministers in 
their organic capacity, would contribute much to this desirable 
result. The very significance thus given to these objects 
itself secures to them influence, and greatly enhances the esti- 
mate of their importance. In the deliberations of our 
Conferences, we are particular and specific as to certain depart- 
ments of ministerial duty, but other departments, no less im- 
portant, are ignored and neglected. What wonder, then, that 
all these constitute a field dark and obscure to the greater 



THE MINISTERIAL FUNCTION. 237 

part of our preachers, and in which so few do the work de- 
manded by the wants of the Church and the world ? In con- 
firmation of the value of these Conference deliberations, in 
furnishing the light which the ministry need, to enter upon 
this enlarged sphere of ministerial performance, one fact will 
be stated. Of all these great interests to which the minis- 
try should be urged, the missionary is sought most emphati- 
cally by the Conference, in its sessional capacity, to be im- 
pressed upon its members, and accordingly, it is this which is 
best understood and most thoroughly developed. 

But not only should Conference occasions be seized upon 
to diffuse light and enkindle the zeal of the preachers, in re- 
gard to this wide field of their duty, but the press ought to 
be employed, as a leading instrumentality, to secure the same 
result. The various organs which all the important interests 
of the Church, as before stated, ought to have, should be 
conducted largely with particular reference to the enlighten- 
ment of the ministry as to their duties. And a preacher's 
manual, written under all the lights of the present times, and 
setting forth the whole sphere of ministerial objects, and spe- 
cifying in minutest, fullest detail, the precise methods of 
action in respect of them, is now a desideratum of highest 
importance. Light among the preachers, like light among 
the membership, is now the important demand, and, if sup- 
plied, would, as to the largest number, be all that is abso- 
lutely necessary to secure the development of every ministerial 
capability, now demanded by the wants of the times. 

But much may be done to secure the right appreciation by 
the ministry of these various duties, by any such steps, by the 
Church in her organic capacity, as affords tangible proof of 
her own recognition of their importance. Mere paper reso- 
lutions and verbal professions weigh but little, as long as she 
fails actually to provide for the assumption of these duties 
The organization of Church schools, and the employment of 



238 PROGRESS. 

Conference preachers in them, have done more to enlist the 
ministry generally in the cause of education, as a constituent 
part of their duty, than all the treatises, and lectures, and 
admonitions upon this subject could ever have achieved. A 
few years ago, when the Church was doing but little for the 
missionary cause, either at home or abroad, it was impossible 
to enlist the ministry in this cause in any efficient sense ; but 
as soon as missions among ourselves and abroad began to be 
organized, and our Church gave evidence of her conviction 
of their value by appointing our own men to them, then our 
preachers began to feel their consciences enlisted — systematic 
methods of action were arranged, and our missionary collec- 
tions went up. The appointment of those of our own body, 
was a standing proof of the value of this cause, which attracted 
the attention and enlisted the sympathies, in such degree as 
makes all feel that it is a cause in which they are directly and 
personally interested. The appointment of missionaries to 
China and California, has done more to convince the ministry, 
and to confirm conviction that missionary operations are essen- 
tially connected with ministerial duty, than a thousand Con- 
ference resolutions and missionary sermons. The same is 
true in respect of the Sunday-school cause. The establish- 
ment of a Sunday-school paper, and the appointment of its 
editor from the ranks of the ministry, has contributed, in a 
powerful degree, to awaken and intensify a sense of duty 
among the ministry as to the Sunday-school cause. Before, 
the interest of the Church in these matters was made known by 
mere speech, but here it is revealed by action, which speaks 
louder and more effectively than words. The same is true, as 
to the effect upon the Bible cause, of the appointment of 
agents in its behalf from the ranks of the regular ministry. 
The opinion, therefore, sought to be propagated in some 
highly respectable quarters, and maintained by many good 
men, that ministers are taken out of their legitimate sphere 



THE MINISTERIAL FUNCTION. 239 

when placed in colleges, editorial chairs, and agencies, is 
founded upon a false diagnosis of the principles which con- 
trol the proper development of the entire range of Church 
functions, and ought to be rejected, as too superficial and con- 
tracted for the age in which we live. The policy should 
rather be, to have all these great interests represented by the 
Church in the persons of her own ministers — not only that 
thereby they might be better cared for, but that that proof 
might be afforded of the value of these interests, as embraced 
within the immediate sphere of the minister's calling, best 
calculated to maintain in the great body of the ministry an 
adequate sense of every department of duty. Such a policy 
affords just such intimations — just such proofs of the impor- 
tance of certain lines of action, as address themselves to the 
senses, and none are so potent to produce conviction and to 
animate to effort. 

There has been much improvement, within recent years, 
in the views of duty entertained by the mass of the* 
preachers. A much wider scope of action is now sought to 
be incorporated by them. It has resulted chiefly from the 
labors of a few enlightened, enterprising men, who have 
sought to give prominence and importance to a few leading 
interests of the Church, by identifying them with the common 
objects of ministerial duty. The interest thus felt by a few 
soon propagates itself among the many. Interest evolves in- 
terest, and under this system the entire mass will eventually 
become educated to right views and sentiments, as to the entire 
range of their legitimate operations. 

Nothing, perhaps, will contribute more to establish right 
views upon these subjects among the ministry, than for the 
authorities to which they are responsible, to hold them to 
faithful attention to them, as an imperative obligation, and to 
adopt such system of oversight and enforcement as will 
enable them, by pains and penalties, if need be, successfully 



240 PROGRESS. 

to accomplish the object. Preaching, and attention to ap- 
pointments to preach, is held to he a necessary duty, and 
a system is adopted by which to ascertain every case of neg- 
lect, and to enforce the penalty which it incurs. The same 
plan may be adopted to secure attention to all other proper 
objects of the ministry. The same rigid examinations may 
be instituted, when the character of the preacher is brought 
under review by the proper judicatories, and the same penal- 
ties be enforced for neglect; and, just as this method fixes in 
the mind an imperative sense of the obligation to preach 
regularly and punctually, so will this further system of super- 
vision create a right sense of the duties which all these other 
objects devolve. 

But, perhaps, the most important step in this whole train- 
ing process is, for the Annual Conferences to arrange the 
work of these preachers, with specific reference to this wide 
detail of duties. As long as this is not done — as long as 
the plan pursued ignores these duties — ■ indeed, provides for 
their positive neglect — of course they will have no recog- 
nized place in the system of ministerial operations. In our 
old and regular stations, the system of action required of 
the preachers is much more extensive, embracing a much 
greater number of the various objects which bring out the 
resources and capabilities of the Church, than do our circuits. 
Class-meetings are better sustained — the poor are more 
thought of — 'benevolent associations are more common — 
collections for the support of the Church and Church enter- 
prises are more liberal — and the state of things existing, in 
every way, indicates a fuller and freer exercise of the functions 
of the Church. The reason is this, stations requiring less 
of the time of the preacher to be occupied in preaching, he 
has more time to devote to these other auxiliary and supple- 
mentary objects, and, having more time, the system has 
grown up, in which he is expected by the people and re- 



THE MINISTERIAL FUNCTION. 241 

quired by the conference to attend to these duties. His 
faithfulness as a preacher, and qualification for the appoint- 
ment bestowed upon him, are tested as much by the success 
with which he attends to this department of his duty, as by 
the character of his pulpit exhibitions. Circuits, however, 
are arranged with reference mainly to mere preaching, and 
so much of the time of the preacher being required for this 
duty, it is not expected that he give any thing more than 
merely incidental attention to these subordinate objects. It 
is the power, the success, and the punctuality of his pulpit 
labors, that give him currency, and furnish the test by which 
his acceptability is determined. Indeed, arranged as our 
3ircuits are, the opportunity is denied the preacher, whatever 
might be his own inclination, to give regular and systematic 
attention to these details of usefulness. If our circuits, re- 
taining the same territorial limits as now, were made nearer 
like stations, by condensing appointments, making them 
thereby much fewer, it being understood that the change in 
policy was made for the express purpose of allowing more time 
to give attention to these supplementary duties, and as rigid 
a method were adopted to hold the preachers to account- 
ability for the faithful discharge of these duties, as is now to 
secure attention to preaching appointments, then we should 
soon see the various agencies of Methodism, as constituted 
of the class-meeting, the Sunday-school, benevolent organ- 
ization, and financial collections brought into use all over the 
country, as we now find them in our best organized stations. 
The idea would not then be, that preaching constituted the 
whole business of the preacher, but that attention to every 
interest calculated to give compass and efficiency to the 
Church, and improvement to the people, was equally a .part of 
his appointed business, and while the people would receive 
no less preaching, but in, this respect would be equally as 
effectively served, all subordinate methods of doing good, as 
11 



242 PROGRESS. 

the result of a felt necessity, would be everywhere brought 
into efficient exercise. 

If it be said, that the change of the policy of six and four 
weeks' circuits into those of two, which as respects the lead- 
ing motive was made to accomplish these very results, has 
demonstrated by its own working, that this scheme proposed 
would itself prove a failure, we reply, first, that this example 
cannot be taken as indicating any thing as to the probable 
success of the movement we propose, for the reason that, 
though it was a change which reduced the territorial limits 
of the circuits, yet it did not reduce the amount of preaching 
required, sufficiently to furnish opportunity, or an obvious 
ground of duty, to assume these additional labors. It was a 
change, but not a change in those respects to conform it to 
this result. It did not go far enough. If it had reduced 
the amount of preaching required so far as that, by the re- 
duction, an obvious vacuum was left to be filled by these 
duties, then, because both of the preacher's own internal con- 
victions, and of what he would know was expected of him 
by others, he would be impelled to assume them. But, 
secondly, this example proves nothing as to the movement 
we propose, because under that change, while it is expected 
that the preacher will attend to these various departments of 
Church interest incidentally, and his usefulness and position 
is promoted by such attention, yet there are no such regula- 
tions imposed, as we suggest, by which the preacher is held 
to account for their neglect, and his character and relations 
are made largely to depend upon his faithfulness in regard to 
them. 

Now, we do not propose this modification of our system 
everywhere. It is only in older communities, where a large 
proportion are embraced in the Church, or are familiar with 
the principles of Christianity, that these auxiliary instrumen- 
talities can be very usefully employed. These instrumental!- 



THE MINISTERIAL FUNCTION. 243 

ties are only directed and available in a condition of society, 
like that of most of our older communities, which has been 
produced by a very general prevalence of Christian principle. 
It is, therefore, only in reference to such communities, that 
we suggest this change of system. In those sections, found 
in all our States, and abounding in our newer States, where 
society has not yet been subjected by a knowledge of the 
gospel, and the masses are yet unconverted, and where, there- 
fore, preaching is the almost exclusive instrumentality adapted 
and available, we would have our system remain just as it is, 
for, established with direct reference to this state of things, in 
its almost exclusive employment of the preaching element, it 
is, perhaps, unsusceptible of improvement. 

But in respect of these older communities, where preach- 
ing is but a part of the great system of means which may be 
rendered profitable, we maintain that this modification of our 
plan is imperatively called for. For mere knowledge of 
duty will not always secure its performance, until the external 
machinery is itself properly arranged to bring out this 
result. 

There can be no doubt that this expansion of the sphere 
of ministerial operations, requires a higher standard of quali- 
fication than is now reached by the mass of the ministry. 
Many leading minds in the Church feel this, and to fulfill this 
condition, have thought of various plans. It has, however, 
been the general opinion, that it is an intellectual improve- 
ment that is now required. This is a fundamental mistake. 
It is an improvement in the qualities of zeal and of self-de- 
nying, self-sacrificing devotedness, that is now the specific 
desideratum in the ministry, and, if secured in proper de- 
gree, all else would follow necessary to their complete efficiency. 
These are the paramount qualifications, and every true 
system for the attainment of a right ministry makes these 
qualifications the test, rather than such as pertain to 



244 PROGRESS. 

the intellectual capacities, and their cultivation paramount to 
that of the mere intellect. 

The success of preaching and of ministerial labor generally, 
unlike all other instrumentalities intended to control the 
minds of men, does not depend essentially upon human qual- 
ifications of any kind, hut upon divine influence. Those 
qualifications, therefore, of supernatural gift, the bestowal of 
God himself, and on account of which he is pleased to vouch- 
safe his divine sanction and help— that is, the qualifications 
of faith, of zeal, and self-consecration — are those which 
adapt the ministry to success — are those in fact which con- 
stitute their fitness for this work. 

If we attentively consider, with perceptions illuminated by 
a true Christian faith, the purely spiritual objects of Chris- 
tianity, it will be abundantly evident that the capabilities of 
the preacher to induce the world to embrace them, are depend- 
ent more upon his own spiritual attainments and the energy 
with which he, by example and direct effort, urges to them, 
than upon any qualifications of head or heart, of a purely 
human character. 

If we look out upon the wide sphere of duty to the oc- 
cupancy of which the ministry is urgently called, we shall 
find that zeal and energy are more necessary to their success 
than mere knowledge. We shall find that the great deside- 
ratum is not capacity to understand, but heart to perform — 
that a self-sacrificing spirit of devotion to the great ends of 
usefulness is the grand element needed, and which, if fully 
realized, would soon bring into action whatever is required to 
compass the entire range of ministerial objects. Give the 
ministry right hearts, bring them under the domination of 
right motives, in all their strength and fulness, and ways and 
means will never be wanting to all that usefulness appropriate 
to the Church, and demanded by the wants of the world. 

The forces of the gospel are already arranged by God him- 



THE MINISTERIAL FUNCTION. 245 

self, and an aggressive power infused into them from the same 
divine source. All that is necessary, then, to their success, is 
an application of them to the people, by those divinely com- 
missioned to this work ; and as zeal and self-denying labor are 
the qualities upon which the extent and faithfulness of this 
application depends, they are of course the paramount quali- 
ties in the ministry. 

The history of Methodism demonstrates the superiority of 
these qualities — in fact, the great truth that the success of 
the ministry turns essentially upon them. Her advancement 
has been more rapid than that of all other Christian organi- 
zations, and the world concedes that it is to be attributed, 
under Grod, to that system which made these qualities the 
most highly valued and controlling ones in the operations of 
her ministry. 

A rationalistic view of religion, which gives undue pre- 
ponderance to the mere human side of religious instrumen- 
talities, will always expect success only in the use of such 
means as human reason would suggest, as something like cor- 
respondent with the result ; but he who remembers that this 
is Grod's work, and that the really saving appliances are from 
him, will feel that it is rather those qualities which he him- 
self inspires — faith and zeal, and the spirit of self-sacrificing 
toil, that are the proper means to success. 

Such a view of man, as the instrument, comports with his 
relations to his Maker — it sinks the human into the divine 
efficiency — it makes him, it is true, the active instrument, 
but it maintains him in his own humbling view of his own 
worth, and gives to Grod what is due him — all the glory. 

The impression among many, of the high intellectual posi- 
tion proper to be attained by all the ministry — an impression 
so decided, as to create the belief that it ought to be a con- 
trolling standard of qualification for admission into the min- 
istry — is founded in great mistake, and fatally mischievous 



246 PROGRESS. 

in its tendency. Christ called the majority of his apostles 
from the humbler walks of life, and most of the preachers 
who in the progress of Methodism have been called, and who 
have been most extensively useful, have been taken from the 
lower or middle ranks of society, and had been brought up 
for the most part, in great destitution of intellectual advan- 
tages. There is meaning in these facts. Christianity is 
religion for the masses, and Methodism especially is the peo- 
ple's religion. If it were intended only for the wise, it might 
be that only the wise would be called, but " the poor have the 
gospel preached to them," and, intended for all the people, 
the bulk of those called it is intended should be from that 
rank which allies them in sympathy to the masses, and of 
that intellectual grade which puts them into intellectual 
affinities with the body of the people, and necessitates 
such modes of thought and of intellectual exhibition as 
adapts them to general usefulness. Intellect, therefore, 
or a certain intellectual status, does not seem to be the 
standard which, in any controlling sense, is to govern in the 
production of a right ministry. It would be well for the 
Church to abandon any such conception, and let God's own 
order, which is to call men from all ranks, but mainly from 
the masses, indicating thereby his purpose to constitute his 
ministry of all grades of intellectual attainment, regulate 
this important interest. 

The settlement thus of this order manifests the wisdom of 
God. For while it has a philosophic adaptation to the great 
object of spreading religion among all classes, by precluding 
in his ministers the temptation to rely upon merely human 
resources, it develops the qualities of faith and zeal — the 
divinely appointed instruments for the accomplishment of 
their important work. It is but in harmony too with his great 
purpose, that the world should feel that it was not the instru- 
ments used that achieved these great results ; and, by a per- 



THE MINISTERIAL FUNCTION. 247 

vading consciousness of the insufficiency of these in them- 
selves, to make necessary a sense of dependence upon him 
for any success, and the attributing to him all the glory. 
" God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to con- 
found the wise ; and G-od hath chosen the weak things of the 
world to confound the things which are mighty." It is, 
therefore, to attempt an improvement upon Grod's own plan, 
to do violence to his own arrangement — to set aside hig own 
system — when any plan is attempted, arbitrarily to elevate the 
ministry to some higher definite standard of intellectual at- 
tainment. 

Intellect, it is true, is an essential element ; but it is to be 
obtained not by arranging the immediate system, which de- 
velops the ministry with specific reference to it. The system 
which seeks to make faith and self-denying zeal the paramount 
qualities, in any right state of things otherwise, will always 
secure it in any degree required. 

This system in itself powerfully tends to develop intellect. 
It- brings into constant and intense action whatever of intel- 
lect is had, and thereby gives it improving exercise and ex- 
pansion. These qualities which it makes predominant, from 
their nature, are always stimulating to self-improvement, and 
to the use of such means as contribute to the increase of the 
strength and resources of the mind. Indeed, it is a system 
which is always acting upon mind as a forcing process, both 
by virtue of its own necessary effect and the means to im- 
provement, the use of which it is always suggesting and urg- 
ing. Its tendency in these respects is seen in the history 
of Methodism. This was her system in former years more 
than now, and such has been its efficiency in eliciting intel- 
lect, in giving to intellect the most favorable chances for im- 
provement and elevation — such has been the number of the 
distinguished instances in which it has raised men from ob- 
scurity to the highest positions of intellectual power and 



248 PROGRESS. 

attainment — such has been the exhibition of its capacity to 
fulfill well-nigh every condition for the right education of the 
ministry — as to afford indubitable proof that such a system 
furnishes the best of all schools for the intellectual training 
of the ministry, that, given a system in which faith and zeal 
and self-denying toil are mainly looked to and provided for, 
and the realization of whatever of intellect is needed, is a 
necessary sequence. 

The kind of intellect which this system of supreme refer- 
ence to qualities of the heart, rather than of the head, 
secures, shows still further its potency to provide in the min- 
istry the needed intellectual element. After all that may be 
said of the value of learning, in itself considered, yet, in- 
tended to operate mainly upon the masses, the intellect which 
the great body of the ministry needs is such as is trained in 
the knowledge of the modes of thought, tastes, dispositions, 
and habits of the people, so as to be capable of an apprecia- 
tion of, sympathy with, and adaptation to them. It is only 
when the people are understood, their peculiarities of thought 
and modes of life appreciated and recognized, that the minis- 
try can apply themselves to them, or enjoy their fullest con- 
fidence and sympathy. Politicians, and many others in secu- 
lar pursuits, who desire to impress the masses, understand 
this principle, and hence, in all their exhibitions, seek to 
adapt themselves to the popular standard. Preaching must 
be popular, and all the movements of the ministry designed 
to regulate the social characteristics of life, all practical enter- 
prises, involve necessarily an intimate knowledge of the people, 
and cannot otherwise be successfully conducted. But it is a 
system like that of Methodism, in which the qualities of re- 
ligious experience, and of the heart, are regarded more im- 
portant than those of the head, and which sends men imme- 
diately out into contact with the people, under the itinerant 
plan of operations, that fulfils these conditions, and secures a 



THE MINISTERIAL FUNCTION. 249 

ministry thus trained. Methodism owes its success, in great 
degree, to the training which has been thus given to her min- 
istry. The itinerancy brings the preacher directly and at 
once into contact with practical life, and while it secures an 
increasing knowledge of men as they are found on the great 
theatre of action, it disciplines his powers and modes of popu- 
lar adaptation to the actual wants of his hearers. The itine- 
rancy is the best of all schools to secure the kind of intellect 
important in the ministry. Properly regulated, it is not un- 
favorable to the acquisition of theological learning — some of 
the most learned divines have grown up under its training ; 
but the learning acquired is such as may be directly available 
to the great purpose of immediate usefulness, while the men- 
tal discipline secured is just such as popular efficiency demands. 

Though it may be true, that the intellectual element sup- 
plied to the ministry under this system of supreme reference 
to the qualities of the heart, may not, generally, be distin- 
guished for its learning or accomplishments, still it will be 
of that character adapted to success, and to the spread of re- 
ligion in all classes of society. Methodism proves this, and 
her progress among all ranks, the highest as well as the low- 
est, to a degree that brings her abreast in the intelligence and 
social position of her subjects and friends with any other 
Christian organization of the land, shows that this system, 
thus far, has been adequate to prevent any depression which 
any insufficient supply of the needed intellectual element 
might have occasioned. 

But it may be said that, conceding all we claim as to the 
effect of the system we advocate upon the intellectual im- 
provement and training of the ministry, still, in an educated 
age, a higher degree of intellect and learning is required than 
can be expected as the legitimate fruit of this system, and 
which must be provided. This we grant, but contend that it 
must be supplied, not by substituting another system, but by 
11* 



250 PROGRESS. 

supplementing this. It is to be done by the improvement of 
the general material out of which God has to select his min- 
isters; so that when men come into the ministry, they shall 
already be on a higher intellectual level : in other words, it 
is to be done by the proper execution of the educational func- 
tion of the Church, and a general provision thereby for the 
educational interests of the people. Then the intellectual 
cast, of at least a large class of those called to this high office, 
will be improved, and its proper quota of learning and accom- 
plishment will be gained, without the necessity for any direct 
arrangement of the plan of the ministry with reference to a 
purely intellectual standard, but in a manner allowing the 
carrying out of God's own order, and maintaining the great 
system we contend for, of a supreme reference, in all that per- 
tains to ministerial qualifications, to the active qualities of the 
heart. 

God intends to link one duty with another, and to make the 
completeness of the intellectual qualifications of the ministry 
dependent, not upon conformity to any standard of intellect, 
but upon the discharge of duty in the general education of 
the people. It is education, generally diffused, which makes 
educated preachers necessary, and God intends that we shall 
have the latter not before the time, but only on the occurrence 
of that contingency upon which they are in place and neces- 
sary. The divinely appointed way, then, to get the right 
amount of education and learning in our ministry, is to scatter 
broad the facilities of education, under the sanction and di- 
rection of the Church. Our history proves this. Before the 
Methodist Church turned her attention to the education of 
the people, the supplies to her ministerial ranks were almost 
exclusively from the more illiterate classes, but since the estab- 
lishment of her colleges and high schools, her ministry has 
been receiving annual accessions from the ranks of the edu- 
cated. And if her supplies from this source are not sum- 



THE MINISTERIAL FUNCTION. 251 

eiently rapid, and the improvement of her ministry, in edu- 
cational respects, does not correspond with the march of 
social progress, it has only been because of the limitedness 
of her educational provisions. Let her not, then, seek to 
supply the lack by altering her system, so as, by its own ar- 
rangement, to secure a conformity to a certain higher intel- 
lectual standard j but let her attribute the defect to the right 
cause, and seek to supply it in the only just and practicable 
wav > by supplying her people more largely and generally with 
the facilities of a sanctified literary education. 

There are those who believe that a regular theological edu- 
cation, dispensed through regular theological seminaries, is 
the only system whereby to secure the amount of intellectual 
qualification indispensable to the ministry. It would seem, 
however, that this question ought to be considered, by all 
Methodists at least, as put to rest by the experience of the 
Churches. There are ecclesiastical organizations in which 
this system obtains, and though it creates for them a learned 
ministry, yet it is evident that, as it respects the great work of 
saving souls, and of subjecting the world to the dominion of 
Christ, which all must admit to be the great objects of the 
ministry, the Methodist ministry, who are trained without this 
system, have proven themselves far more capable and efficient. 
Learning is beautiful and always to be admired, and when it 
comes into the ministry, as a providential arrangement, under 
such a system as is legitimate, it subserves a most valuable 
purpose. But success, after all, is the chief consideration, 
and to ignore it, that we may fulfil an ideal conception of 
beauty and fitness, is both unwise and criminal. 

But there are positive objections to this system that are in- 
superable. 

1. It secures a kind of training which restricts the range 
of preaching to the more cultivated classes of society. The 
design of it, when carefully analyzed, will be found to be, to 



252 PROGRESS. 

create a style of preaching with reference to these classes. 
It is ascertained, it is contended, that preaching is not suffi- 
ciently critical, or learned, or profound ; but for whom ? not 
for the great mass of mankind, because such preaching is 
above them, is unsuited to their capacity, but for the more 
advanced of society; and to improve it in these particulars, 
and thereby to adapt it to these higher classes, it is proposed 
to establish schools of theology in which the requisite ad- 
vantages are afforded. Nor do these schools fail to secure 
the desired result. First : they train the mind in that pecu- 
liar learning, and to those habits of technical criticism and 
nice distinction which make the topics treated, as well as the 
methods of treating them, unsuited either to popular taste or 
to popular apprehension j and, secondly, the consciousness of 
the unadaptedness of this kind of preaching to which they 
are thus trained, to the populace, and of its suitableness only 
to the intellectual classes, itself creates a tendency to ignore 
the former and to direct their energies mainly to the latter. 
Men soon discover their own style of preaching and the 
classes which most appreciate it; and when these are ascer- 
tained to be the most elevated and influential, many reasons 
conspire to produce a disregard of the inferior, and a restric- 
tion of effort to such congregations only as are considered 
intelligent and refined. 

These proofs of the tendency of theological seminary train- 
ing to restrict preaching to the higher and more favored 
classes, are confirmed by the history of those organizations in 
which this training is an indispensable ministerial qualifica- 
tion. In reference to every one of them, it may be safely 
said, that they attempt but little among the masses — that 
they confine their efforts almost exclusively to those regarded 
as the upper classes; and that it is only among them that they 
have any success. They have ascertained, that it is only 
among them that their preaching is appreciated and useful, 



THE MINISTERIAL FUNCTION. 253 

and they, therefore, restrict their operations within their 
limits. Theirs is a system for the educated and refined; 
and if the masses of mankind were dependent upon them 
alone for the bread of life, and those influences which would 
thoroughly reach them, the period of the world's conversion 
would, doubtless, be indefinitely postponed. A system thus 
contracting the capabilities of the ministry, is unsuited to the 
demands of the world. Diffusion among the masses is the 
great law of Christianity, and that system which allows of 
the largest adaptation to them, is best calculated to hasten 
the progress of society and the evangelization of the world. 

2. It impairs in many respects the usefulness of the 
ministry. 

First : By its tendency to divert the attention from the 
object of preaching to the instruments involved in preaching. 
The stress laid upon theology, as an objective system, im- 
plied in the existence of these seminaries to teach it, and 
this devotion to it for a protracted period, under the direction 
of regularly appointed masters, naturally tends to impress the 
mind of the ministry with such an exaggerated sense of its 
importance, as to cause more attention to be given and im- 
portance attached to the doctrine which is preached, and the 
manner of its presentation, than to the ends which that doc- 
trine is intended to accomplish — as to make the idea of the 
truths presented more prominent than that of the subjective, 
or practical results as to those who hear, which those truths 
are intended to produce — as, in short, to make the mere 
medium paramount in the conceptions of the preacher to the 
objects on account of which alone that medium is valuable. 
In other words, the tendency of this theological training is 
to reverse the divinely appointed order in the conduct of 
pulpit operations ; for, whereas good to others, positive effect 
upon others, ought always to be paramount and to govern the 
character of preaching, both as to its topics and modes, this 



254 PROGRESS. 

system develops the opposite method, making the idea of the 
true end to be accomplished secondary and subordinate to 
these, the mere instruments to be employed. Such is the 
inevitable effect of this system. When men are thrown out 
at once into the field of active effort, they necessarily soon 
become engrossed with the ideas of good to others, as the 
immediate object before them : the whole aim of their efforts 
assumes a practical cast, and the question of positive useful- 
ness is always paramount ; but when they perceive that mere 
theology is deemed by the authorities of the Church so 
important as to demand their being held back from this 
active field for so long a period, to pursue the simple study 
of it, and their idea of its importance is still further magni- 
fied by the expensive arrangements for the mere instruction 
of it, and by the constancy and length of their exclusive 
attention to it, without reference to, and, indeed, to the 
neglect of the actual results which alone make it valuable, 
inevitably they will come to attach an exaggerated import- 
ance to it, insomuch that the idea of it, and of the manner 
of its presentation, will prevail over all considerations of the 
actual objects and purposes of it. Facts prove this. Those 
ministers whose training has been in contact with the people, 
are generally found to be governed, in their topics and 
modes, by circumstances, and to feel that effect is the primary 
and controlling consideration : while, on the other hand, 
those, as a class, who are trained in the schools, show that 
nice distinctions, critical disquisition, and logical force in the 
maintenance of orthodoxy, are mainly regarded, and more 
interest is felt to uphold doctrine, than, by an adaptation to 
the existing condition of things, to further actual spiritual 
results. 

Second : By its tendency to make preaching less efficient. 

This follows, of course, from its tendency, just stated, to 
divert the mind from the true ends of ministerial effort, 



THE MINISTERIAL FUNCTION. 255 

When men are the objects to be impressed and moved, they 
must be studied, and the system of instrumentality employed 
must, as far as possible, have a precise and specific adapta- 
tion to them. Preaching, therefore, to be most effective, 
must be such as is suggested by an intimate knowledge of 
the actual condition of the people, and is directed with refer- 
ence to their nature, their precise wants, and circumstances. 
This system, therefore, which tends to keep the mind away 
from these points, and to make them secondary to other 
objects — which tends to the disregard and neglect of them 
— must greatly contract and neutralize the real capacities of 
the pulpit. Preaching, under such circumstances, and thus 
exhibited, may be highly intellectual and learned, but it 
cannot be relied upon as pertinent and calculated to pro- 
duce, in highest degree, useful results. Such preaching, in 
the style, the thoughts, and the modes of thought, is often 
without reference to existing circumstances, and any adapta- 
tion to those upon whom it should act. 

There is, too, in this training which so much magnifies 
the importance of objective theology, a proneness to rely upon 
it — upon the mere truth and the logical force with which it 
is presented, to the exclusion of that kind of faith which 
insures the divine help, in all these ministrations, and with- 
out which all else is unavailing — to believe that mere truth 
is enough in itself to bring men to the saving embracement 
of it, without a recognition of the spiritual element, which 
merely uses this truth as an instrument, and without faith 
in which all else is inoperative and nugatory. Methodist 
preaching, the world must acknowledge, when considered 
in respect of effect in the production of changes in the ex- 
perience and the life — in short, in respect of the great ends 
of preaching — has been more successful than that of all 
others. Yet in all that pertains to technical theology, to 
learning, and critical exegesis, it will be readily conceded that, 



256 PROGRESS. 

as a mass, it is far behind the ministry trained in the theo- 
logical schools. The explanation is found in the fact that, 
instead of relying upon mere theology and employing itself 
mainly about it, in the ministrations of the pulpit, keeping 
all other objects comparatively hid from view, its object has 
been to keep the eye steadily fixed upon the great results 
in others, for which preaching is intended, and by the study 
of men, their habitudes and tastes, as practically existing, 
to employ such agencies, to deal with such topics, only as 
were of practical adaptation. Theirs has been not a cold 
abstract preaching about matters which, though they might 
reach the head, left intact the heart, but a practical soul- 
stirring preaching which, applying to men as they actually 
existed, had access to their will, and, under Grod, subjected 
them to its sway. With them, too, the truths which make 
up theology were but mere instruments — a system of 
machinery through which Grod manifested himself in spiritual 
power to men, and employing them as mere instruments, the 
all-absorbing reliance was upon Grod, and the spiritual element 
was recognized as the chief and all-pervading agency. 

The truths of the gospel — the presentation and enforce- 
ment of which are most successful in doing good to men — 
are so simple and easily comprehended, that practical good 
sense, zeal, and faith are the qualities most in demand in 
the preacher. And though learning, as properly understood, 
when strictly subordinated and made subsidiary to these para- 
mount qualities, is a great and often indispensable auxiliary to 
usefulness, yet, liable as it is in many to be a mere mass of 
acquisition instead of an incorporated, subjected element — 
to be the object of supreme attention and display instead of 
a mere instrument for use, and, therefore, rather a hinder- 
ance than a means of usefulness — a system which makes 
it an indispensable qualification in every case is an unfavor- 
able one for the attainment of the most efficient ministry. 



THE MINISTERIAL FUNCTION. 257 

3. It hinders the realization of the highest zeal in the 
ministry. 

Those motives in the ministry which are the strongest, 
which elicit most of the spirit of self-denying, laborious de- 
votion to the interests of souls, are derived from suitable 
impressions, not simply of the instruments, but of the ends 
of preaching. It is a proper apprehension of their import- 
ance, that stirs the soul of the minister to its deepest founda- 
tions, and awakens the strongest desires to be useful. These 
are the chief objects of reference — those on account of 
which alone the machinery of the gospel was arranged : of 
course, therefore, they must have a relation to the soul that 
gives them more power to interest and elicit zeal, than objects 
that are merely secondary — they must constitute the reasons 
of motive — the appointed objects to elicit and sustain it. 
It is the energy with which the worth of souls is forced upon 
the mind — it is the consideration of the importance of 
human good — that prompts the sacrifices of the devoted 
missionary, and secures all those triumphs over the flesh and 
the world, involved in the labors of the most zealous workers 
in the vineyard of the Lord. That system, therefore, which 
is best calculated to maintain these objects in the mind, pro- 
minently and pressingly, as the prime reason and ground of 
all ministerial labor, must be the most favorable to the fullest 
ministerial zeal. But, as we have seen, the system of minis- 
terial training by theological seminaries is not of that char- 
acter — its tendency being rather to divert the mind from 
these objects as matters of supreme and controlling reference 
— to hold these as secondary, and to look mainly to what is 
designed to be the mere instruments for the attainment of 
these objects. Hence it is a system unfavorable to the main- 
tenance of right ministerial zeal. It cannot be that a 
system which so much stresses mere theology, and requires 
an expenditure of so much time and labor merely in it, and 



258 PROGRESS. 

the engrossment of so much of the attention in simple 
acquisition, can be so favorable to the full impression of those 
ideas of usefulness that come up from the proper objects of 
usefulness, as that system under which the mind is set loose 
to come into constant contact with these objects, and is re- 
quired to think and feel directly and chiefly in reference to 
them. The mind is so constituted as that, when it is mainly 
occupied with one set of ideas, all others have less capability 
of securing admission into it, and less power of control 
over it. 

The conclusion thus deduced, as to this effect, is confirmed 
by facts. There may be zeal, as there often is, in that 
ministry thus trained ; but it will be generally found to be a 
zeal chiefly in behalf of learning and doctrine, and manifested 
in the prosecution of those habits of study and of intellectual 
labor, originally formed and insisted upon in the seminaries, 
rather than a zeal directly in behalf of the good of human 
souls. It will be a zeal which will refer, as its immediate 
object, to the machinery of the gospel, rather than to the re- 
sults of good which that machinery is designed to secure. 
And the cases of exception will be found to be those in whom 
the effect of this training is least visible — who, full of natural 
benevolence and religious devotion, and highly practical in 
their order of mind, have, in spite of its legitimate tendency, 
become engrossed with these, the proper objects of the 
ministry, and from them have derived the right zeal of the 
minister — a zeal in behalf of human salvation. 

It has been the glory of Methodism, that its tendency has 
been to make the results of usefulness paramount to all other 
considerations, by which, while the zeal of her ministry has 
been maintained in the highest degree, it has been directed 
to its proper object — that of direct benefit to the souls of 
men. To substitute a system whose tendency would be, to 
make secondary objects so far the aim of the ministry as to 



THE MINISTERIAL FUNCTION. 259 

engross a large share of its care and attention, would not only 
be to diminish its zeal, but to make that zeal come short of 
what ought to be its all-absorbing object. 

A ministry conscious that their preaching is suited to cer- 
tain classes only, and who, therefore, direct themselves mainly 
to them, and who cannot see much immediate fruit from their 
preaching, it being directed rather to the logical consciousness 
than to the affections, cannot have that all-pervading zeal — 
that energetic, self-sacrificing desire to labor for the weal of 
others, that those have whose business it is to adapt them- 
selves to all men, who set themselves out upon the broad 
world to labor anywhere, and among all classes, and whose 
faith and purpose are constantly encouraged and directed by 
the glorious effects they ever witness, as following from their 
labors. 

There is a mannerism too — a fixed method of procedure — 
contracted in these seminaries, and which, gained under the 
sanction of what is recognized as the highest authority, is apt 
to be cleaved to with tenacity, that has a restrictive, constrain- 
ing influence upon the preacher, and prevents that expansion 
and practical exhibition of ardor and zeal necessary to realize 
fully their appropriate fruit. 

The ideas which men receive in the outset, in any depart- 
ment of action, as to the spirit and aims which are to control 
them in it, are apt to continue dominant throughout their 
whole future course. There is a potency in preoccupancy 
of mind, which hardly any thing afterwards will ever neutralize. 
And it is upon this principle that the importance which, by 
the very existence of these seminaries, as well as the training 
imparted to them, is made in the minds of young preachers 
to attach to the intellectual standard of qualification, is apt to 
make their conceptions of ministerial life and calling of a 
character incompatible with the experience of faith and zeal, 
and the spirit of self-denial, as controlling qualities. 



260 PROGRESS. 

Should it be said, that education itself, in its liberal forms, 
would produce these same effects in the' ministry which we 
ascribe to theological seminary training, and that, therefore, 
to object to the latter would be to object to the former, we 
reply, that there is a difference between education of a literary 
and scientific character, which is dispensed alike to all men 
for whatever calling, and an education of ministers with a 
direct reference to their calling as such. In the one case, it 
is merely preliminary, furnishing simply the basis for the 
superstructure ; but in the other, it gives the superstructure : 
the one merely puts the mind where it is prepared to receive 
the mould which its future vocation may give it — the other 
gives the mould, is in itself professional, and determines 
specifically with reference to the calling embraced. It is 
evident, therefore, that the one has an effect which the other 
has not — that while the one is always desirable, the other, 
because of its specific tendencies, may be objected to and re- 
sisted. 

There are many other insuperable objections which might 
be urged to the system of theological seminaries, but it falls 
not within our purpose to notice them, inasmuch as it was 
only our object to show their incompetency to contribute any 
thing of real worth to the intellectual element of the ministry. 
Having, as we think, done this, we fall back upon our original 
position, that the qualities of the heart, such as faith, zeal, 
and self-denying devotion, are the highest qualifications of 
the ministry ; and that the order of the ministry ought to be 
so arranged as to make these qualities both the standard, and, 
as far as possible, predominant in all its operations. Such 
an arrangement is in itself, when the educational function 
is properly cared for, competent to educe in the ministry 
every needed element, and the only one calculated to make 
the ministry the great agency which Heaven designs it to be 
in the work of the world's evangelization. 



THE MINISTERIAL FUNCTION. 261 

The system of the Methodist ministry, though designed in 
its constitution to make these qualities paramount, and, in 
many respects, not without success, yet in its details has de- 
fects, on account of which this result cannot certainly be 
relied upon. Hence, as long as the system remained under 
its original impulses, its original design was realized ; but as 
soon as these began to cease in their controlling influence, 
and the system had to rely upon the energy of its own organi- 
zation for the maintenance of these tendencies, these defects 
began to show themselves, and the incapacity of the system 
in itself to maintain in ascendency its originally intended 
paramount spirit, began to be evident. 

It is not too much to say that, even in the Methodist min- 
istry, it ]ias become by no means uncommon to hold the sacred 
calling in the light of a mere profession, in which the whole 
that is to be done and immediately regarded, consists in a 
certain round of performances, which when gone through 
with, the claims of men are satisfied, and all that is important 
is accomplished -— a mere mode of life, in which, instead of 
regarding the labors performed as simply means to an end, as 
an instrumentality to accomplish results, and being satisfied 
in the use of it only as it is successful in accomplishing these 
results, which is the view and the feeling of a true ministry, 
the whole interest terminates in the mere instrumentality 
itself — so that when the conventional notions of the world are 
satisfied, and the instrumentality itself is honored or escapes 
censure, they themselves are satisfied that their mission is 
fulfilled. 

This secular, professional character, which, in the estimate 
of many, attaches to this high and sacred calling — so fatal to 
all right purpose and zeal, and success in the conduct of it — 
so degrading to it, and injurious to the cause of Christianity — 
manifests itself in various ways. First : In the absence among 
ministers themselves of all definite expectation of any imme- 



262 PROGRESS. 

diate, positive effects of good to follow their ordinary minis- 
trations, and of any all-engrossing desire to see such results 
attending their efforts, so that the lapse of long periods of 
time, without seeing any good accomplished by themselves, 
excites no concern, and is perfectly compatible with entire 
contentment and self-complacency. This was not the feeling 
of our earlier preachers, or the view they had of the office of 
the ministry. Such was their conception of its design — 
such their faith in its power — their sense of its responsibilities, 
and their all-conquering zeal — that, not only did they expect 
to see immediate results of good following their labors, but 
in every sermon, in every exhortation, and in every prayer, 
they labored with the view to immediate good, and could be 
satisfied only with the consciousness that they were successful 
in this respect. Secondly : In the perversion of the ministry 
from the great end of pleasing God to that of pleasing men 
merely — in the tendency to make the office of the ministry 
a theatre for human display, and for winning the admiration 
of men, rather than an instrumentality for furthering the ob- 
jects of God by making men wiser and better. So that repu- 
tation among men for talent and taste is more highly prized 
than favor with God for success in saving souls and reform- 
ing the world — so that to be prominent is a leading aim and 
reputation, is too precious to be jeoparded, even when the in- 
terests of immortal souls are at stake, and an effort might 
decide their fate. Thirdly : In the dread of labor, and the 
adoption of that rule by which ministers determine the amount 
of labor they will perform, not in answer to the question how 
much they can endure, but how little they can do to escape 
the censures of the public, and of the governing authorities. 
Fourthly : In the effeminacy characteristic of many, in conse- 
quence of which, flimsy excuses are framed to avoid labor, and 
trifling ailments, which would never prevent men from doing 
what they have a heart to do, are used as a shelter under 



THE MINISTERIAL FUNCTION. 263 

which to secure themselves from labors and sacrifices in their 
appropriate field. 

The question then arises, what alterations can be made, 
and what policy can be adopted, so as to make the system 
itself of Methodism competent to provide a ministry, in which 
these qualities of right paramount are always in the ascend- 
ant and controlling ? For let it be understood, that as long 
as humanity is subject to the conditions of earth and time, 
that even in the high matters of the Church, men cannot be 
relied upon, when left to themselves, to conform to their high 
relations, even though surrounded by all the advantages which 
knowledge, however exalted, can afford ; but it is organism 
which Heaven has appointed to make these results sure. It 
is by means of organization, therefore, that a right ministry 
is to be obtained and perpetuated. 

Now, to make organization subservient to the end of pro- 
viding a rightly constituted ministry, three conditions ought 
to be fulfilled. 

1. That it so arrange, that none get admission who do not 
possess the right qualities in their proper degree. As long 
as a half-hearted class of men, who are so trammelled by con- 
ditions and mental reservations as to be disqualified for entire 
consecration to the work, are allowed to get into the ministry, 
in spite of all efforts afterwards properly to elevate and direct 
them, the general standard of ministerial faithfulness will be 
lowered. They contribute to depress it, not only in that they 
occupy the places of ministers, while they but imperfectly 
represent the class, but by their depressing influence, in virtue 
of their example and sentiments, upon the zeal and energies 
of others. It is indispensable, therefore, that the conditions 
of admission be such as will effectually keep out all who fall 
below the right standard of qualification. 

2. That it so arrange, that a clearly-defined sense of their 



264 PROGRESS. 

call to the work shall be the motive that impels men into the 
ministry. 

A definite ; indubitable sense of a divine call to the min- 
istry is the only motive sufficiently strong to enable men to 
submit to the self-sacrifice which a full and faithful discharge 
of all the duties of the ministry involve, and it is the only 
motive which will urge men to those positive disinterested 
acts of usefulness which the highest efficiency of the office 
of the ministry implies. All other motives to this vocation, 
men may subordinate to their own philosophy and conve- 
nience, so as to make their standard of ministerial life subject 
to their own pleasure; but this motive refers the whole matter 
to Grod, both as to what is required and the success desired — 
it involves conscience and every religious conviction — fed by 
the Holy Grhost, it is for ever fresh and vigorous, and rising 
above considerations of earth and time, it is as enduring and 
as active as faith in Grod and the hope of heaven. If, then, 
we would obtain a ministry sufficiently self-sacrificing to sub- 
mit to every hardship, and sufficiently zealous spontaneously 
to appropriate every practicable mode of usefulness — a min- 
istry whose views of duty and of usefulness are not depend- 
ent upon convenience or the conventional notions of men, 
but are on a scale of magnitude and expansiveness bounded 
only by the limits of human endurance and of human capa- 
city — we must make the conditions of admission such as that 
all who become ministers are prompted and controlled alone 
by a consciousness of a divine call to this sacred work. Thus 
impressed and moved, such a ministry will start with a just 
view of their responsibilities, and fully committed to them, 
and triumphing over all worldly considerations, will hence- 
forth know nothing but labor and service in the vineyard of 
the Lord. 

Men sometimes go into the ministry from motives that are 



THE MINISTERIAL FUNCTION. 265 

pure, yet they are lower than this standard — perhaps from 
mere religions fervor and desire to be nsefnl. But these 
motives, dependent as they are upon mere spontaneous 
promptings and variable moods, will never sustain human 
nature under severe trials, nor urge to enterprises and activi- 
ties which involve continued labor and great personal sacrifice. 
And it may be, that it is because our ministry is constituted 
largely of those prompted by these inferior motives, that it 
has assumed that professional, secular air so extensively cha- 
racteristic of it in our times. 

3. That it so arrange as to require, by the very terms of 
admission in the very outset, a full decision to be thoroughly 
consecrated to the work of the ministry. 

When men are required, in order to get into the ministry, 
to make such a decision as this, and thus come into the sacred 
office with their determinations fully formed to assume the 
whole of their responsibilities, in this very act every thing is 
implied necessary to settle the question of their future faith- 
fulness. In this act, whatever of struggle was involved, has 
been made and overcome — whatever of indecision and reluc- 
tance was felt, has been triumphed over, and the mind is 
now settled and established. Such an act of decision, re- 
quired to be made in the outset, has peculiar value. It 
implies that the whole future field has been surveyed, and 
that the determination to assume the responsibility which 
the step involves, is in view of it all — that the whole cost 
has been counted and is clearly understood. It implies the 
preclusion of all those chances of defeat which inconsider- 
ateness in the outset and vagueness of aim might entail; 
and it implies a full and complete conscious triumph, in 
the beginning, over all obstacles — without which, in any moral 
enterprise, there is rarely seen entire stability and entire- 
ness of consecration. 

Let these conditions be fulfilled in the formation of a 
12 



266 PROGRESS. 

ministry, and right views and principles will be apt to con- 
trol in all their future operations. 

But we hold that the mode of admission, as now pro- 
vided in the Methodist Church, is not competent to realize 
these conditions. First, because it is too accommodating a 
mode, subjecting the applicant to no test by which to try 
the motives, but making the terms so easy and complying 
as to draw in almost necessarily such as are without the 
true qualifications, as at all events, to make an insufficiency 
of right motives no barrier to admission. Secondly, because 
so far from being in itself an unyielding rule, demanding 
in all a certain standard of sincerity and fitness, it itself, 
at least in its associated influences, often becomes an in- 
strumentality to urge men into the sacred office, laying aside 
its function of judge, and assuming that of importuner and 
advocate, and at best is virtually without power for actual 
resistance. It is a mode, the effect of which is to give license, 
not to determine or fix conditions. Indeed, so far from having 
an independent character, requiring those who desire admis- 
sion themselves to be the seekers of it, uninfluenced by its 
own agencies and subjecting them to such tests as imply, in 
those who pass, certain definite and positive qualifications, it 
itself, in effect, is rather the inviter of applicants, with al- 
most a promise, to all who knock, it shall be opened. It is 
arranged rather to furnish facilities, to encourage and to per- 
suade, than to afford tests. In a day when to be a minister 
involved discredit and hazard, such a mode would be well 
adapted. In the early days of Methodism it was suitable; 
but in this day, when so many inferior motives conspire to 
urge men into the sacred office, under such a mode of admis- 
sion it is not surprising, that so many are to be found in it 
who come short of its great and solemn trusts. 

There is a mode, however, that might be provided, which 
would contribute much to realize these conditions. Let there 



THE MINISTERIAL FUNCTION. 267 

be a licensing Committee, to be constituted either in whole 
of travelling preachers, or equally of travelling and local 
preachers, appointed by the Bishop, and meeting at the same 
place with the Annual Conference, either synchronously or a 
few days previous, before whom, instead of the Quarterly 
Conference, all applicants for the ministry shall come. Let 
this Committee require the presence of applicants in person, 
in all cases, except when providentially detained, and subject 
them to such examination as may be prescribed to ascertain 
their gifts and graces, and then, by majority vote, determine 
their admission or rejection. Some of these details it might 
be found best, on thorough examination, to vary. As to these 
we are not tenacious. It is to those general features of the 
plan, — committing the licensing function within the limits 
of each Annual Conference to the jurisdiction of one central 
judicatory, and before whom all candidates shall appear in 
person, that we, in this connection, particularly refer. 

This system will tend, in two ways, to realize the first con- 
dition stated as necessary to a right ministry. 

I. It will take the licensing authority out of all those local 
influences which now so much bias the Quarterly Conferences, 
and place it where it can act independently, and with refe- 
rence only to the strict merits of the case. Those men, 
therefore, who were intended to be nothing more than good 
exhorters, class-leaders, or Sunday-school teachers, but who, 
under the present system, because of the social influences 
brought to bear to further their admission, are made preachers, 
would never get admission into the ministry, but would con- 
tinue in their own appropriate sphere of action. All that 
class, therefore, who depend upon extraneous influences to 
get them into the ministry, would, under this system, which 
affords no such auxiliaries, be left out. 

II. This system, in throwing the burden of the application 
for the sacred oflice upon him personally who seeks it, and in 



268 PROGRESS. 

requiring positive personal effort, and often sacrifice, to appear 
before the licensing body, and a submission to an embarrassing 
process of examination when before it, places in the way of 
access to the ministry difficulties and embarrassments, that are 
well calculated to forestall and prevent all disqualified, im- 
proper persons from making application for the sacred office. 
The dignified character of the body, too, before whom they 
are to come, and the elevation thereby given to the whole 
licensing process, powerfully tend to repress all sinister 
desire to seek the ministry — indeed, to place the office above 
all unauthorized, counterfeit aspirations. 

For the same reasons, this system will greatly contribute to 
restrict the applicants to that class alone who are prompted 
by a distinct consciousness of a divine call to the ministry. 
When the difficulties are but slight, and men have but little 
to test their self-denial and devotion, they may go into the 
ministry from inferior motives, hut when those difficulties are 
accumulated, as is the case when they must leave their homes 
and go up to a distant point, and stand the test before a dig- 
nified and impartial tribunal, surrounded by all the solemnities 
with which the occasion and the importance of the objects 
are so well calculated to invest this process, they are not apt 
to take a step so marked and important, unless constrained by 
motives the most profound and pressing — by motives arising 
out of a sense of duty, out of a consciousness of a divine call 
to the work, which are unavoidable and irrepressible. There 
is something in the idea which would be generally entertained 
of the dignity of such a body, of the solemnity of such an 
occasion, and in the consciousness of the character of the 
work of the ministry, enhanced by the importance which, 
through this method of preparation, would be attached to 
it, that would effectually debar all from appearing before 
this body but such as felt themselves urged by a call from 
heaven that could not be resisted. The effect of this system, 



THE MINISTERIAL FUNCTION. 269 

therefore, would be to restrict all applicants for the sacred 
office, not only to those who are called of Grod to it, but to 
those who are prompted alone by a distinct and positive con- 
sciousness of that call. 

Such being the difficulties in the way of the applicant in 
the outset, they are not apt to be successfully encountered as 
long as there is any indecision of purpose, as to a complete- 
ness of consecration to the work in future. Indeed, it is 
difficult to conceive, that any motive could be sufficiently 
strong to carry one successfully over these preliminary ob- 
stacles, which did not imply that a full survey of the whole 
future field had been made, and the decision formed of an 
unconditional dedication to it. It would be the effect, there- 
fore, of this system, to subject the purposes of those who 
apply for admission into the ministry, to such test, as that none 
will go into it who have not in the outset fully considered the 
responsibilities which the office involves, and have resolved 
for life to meet them fully and unreservedly. 

It follows, therefore, that so far as it is in the power of or- 
ganization to secure a right ministry — a ministry controlled 
by those views and feelings that should be paramount — by any 
conditions which it should fulfill in the mode of admission — 
this system is fully calculated to subserve the desired end, 
tending as it does to present the most effective guards against 
the intrusion of the disqualified, to bring in those only who 
are prompted by a consciousness of a divine call, and to pro- 
duce in the very outset those motives, the most important to 
secure the highest activity and fullest consecration, in their 
future course. 

It is its excellence and glory, that it makes faith, and zeal, 
and self-devotion, the qualities we hold to be paramount in 
the ministry, all the time the test; and, by the prominence 
thus given to them in the outset, contributes to secure to us 
a ministry in which these are predominant and controlling. 



270 PROGRESS. 

The objections to this system, that the personal sacrifices 
demanded will effectually repel many who ought to become 
ministers, and that the pecuniary expense required is too 
much to expect, at least of many whose duty it would be to 
apply, are more specious than solid. These difficulties will 
never keep those out of the ministry who are impelled by 
those strong motives, without which they ought not to be in 
it. Those of insufficient motive they will repel, it is true, 
but such as are prompted by genuine motives, in right degree, 
will not fail successfully to encounter them. They are for- 
midable, it is admitted ; but it is their excellence, that while 
they are not too much so to exclude those of right principles 
and aims, they are sufficiently so to imply, that all those who 
do overcome them, have none other than the genuine impulses 
and characteristics of a true ministry of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. And if itinerant ministers can submit to the pecu- 
niary expense, annually, to attend the sessions of their Confer- 
ences, surely men, to obtain license to enter upon a career so 
important to them, and to which God has called them, can 
hardly regard it unjust or impracticable to submit to the same, 
once in a life-time. Men are not apt properly to estimate 
that which they obtain without trouble and expense, and 
these various acts of self-denial and exertion, in the outset of 
a career so important, are not without value, in their influence 
upon the prevailing view entertained of it. 

It is an important consideration, in favor of this method of 
licensing, that its effect will be greatly to improve the general 
character of the local ministry. 

While it must be admitted, that there are many good, and 
faithful, and highly useful men to be found in the ranks of 
the local ministry, (and we design this class to be wholly ex- 
cepted in the remarks now to be made,) and that the local 
preacher system, if it could be restricted to such only, would 
be capable of highly useful employment, yet all who study 



THE MINISTERIAL FUNCTION. 271 

the history of the Church must see that, as respects the 
largest class who compose this department of the ministry, it 
is working most mischievously in the operations of Methodism. 

Constituted, as this largest class is, under the present easy, 
inviting method of access into the ministry, of those who 
assume this office, not as the great business of life, but as a 
business merely secondary and incidental to other more en- 
grossing employments, it is hardly to be expected, even if 
their circumstances were most favorable, that the office in their 
hands would be used very faithfully or usefully. But when 
we consider the secular entanglements to which they are 
liable, and the fact that they are left to themselves without 
restraint — there being no system actually enforced by superior 
authority, specifying their work, and holding them to its faith- 
ful performance — it is by no means surprising, that the ranks 
of the local ministry should exhibit so much inactivity and 
inefficiency. 

But in so far as this system is constituted of this class, it 
is productive of positive evils, that are growing in their mag- 
nitude, and which, if not arrested, will work increasing 
damage to the interests of the Church. First : It constitutes 
a constant drain upon the active forces of the Church — a pit, 
in which men, who would be useful otherwise in the various 
subordinate stations of the Church, are effectually buried, 
laid aside, to render no more efficient service in the vineyard 
of the Lord. Secondly : It lowers the standard of the min- 
istry, and the general estimate which is had of it, injuring 
thereby the usefulness of the better class of ministers, and 
discrediting the cause of Christianity itself. These evils 
would not be felt so decidedly, if this class were restricted to 
a few, scattered in distant localities ; but embracing, as it does, 
so many, especially in certain communities, under the present 
system, so well adapted as a hot-bed process, to force the 
manufactory of preachers, they impress themselves upon the 



272 PROGRESS. 

interests of the Church to such a degree, as to become matter 
of serious alarm. 

Nor are these all the evils inflicted by this system, through 
this class. Possessed of the ministerial office, yet without 
the authority and many of the privileges enjoyed by the 
travelling preachers, they become dissatisfied and restless 
with their inferior position, and feelings of jealousy are 
awakened. From this state of things, especially in those 
communities where they are sufficiently numerous to allow 
the encouragement of mutual sympathy and combination, 
two results follow : First, a spirit of antagonism to the re- 
gular itinerant ministry, manifesting itself in exceeding 
sensitiveness to all imagined neglect and indifference — in the 
failure heartily to cooperate in their plans — and in secret 
efforts to injure their position and enfeeble their influence. 
Second, a revolutionary spirit, which exhibits itself by the 
practice of frequently inveighing, secretly or publicly, against 
certain features of the Church organization, and of using the 
errors or failures of Church authorities to sow the seeds of 
discontent and revolution. 

There has never been a radical movement in the Metho- 
dist Church which either did not have its origin in, or was 
not mainly supported by, disaffected local ministers of this 
class. And as long as this class exists, which it is likely 
will be the case, to an increasing extent, under the present 
method of access to the ministry, so long will there exist in 
the local ranks, both the sources and the materials of insub- 
ordination and mischievous discontent — so long will there 
exist in the local preacher system, an element which can 
never be made to harmonize with the general system of the 
Church, but which will be both a clog to its operations and 
disorganizing in its effects. 

Many minds have perceived these disastrous results, as 
flowing from the present condition of the 'local preacher 



THE MINISTERIAL FUNCTION. 273 

system, and have proposed various plans to obviate them. 
But they have all been futile, inasmuch as they have looked 
to the purification of the mere stream, when the fountain 
itself was corrupt — to a construction of an efficient system, 
when the very elements which were to compose it were them- 
selves defective and impracticable. If men not really called 
of Grod, and in the very outset deficient in right motive, 
are allowed to get into the ministry, no system of regulation 
intended to apply to them afterwards, however judiciously 
devised, can secure to them the characteristics of a right 
ministry. The defect in the present system is in the mode 
of admission — in the failure rightly to guard the door of 
entrance. Could this be so arranged as to insure the ex- 
clusion of all but such as G-od owns and invests with right 
ministerial qualifications, then would this class of local 
preachers, now working so much harm, be for ever unknown, 
and the system itself, constituted of such men as now com- 
pose its better class, would be a valuable auxiliary to the 
forces of the Church. Such would be the operation of the 
licensing system we propose. Guarding as it does the door 
of the ministry, and allowing, as we have shown, admission 
only to those truly called and properly decided, when once 
adopted, no more of those who go to make up this inert and 
disaffected class would find admission, so that when the pre- 
sent race shall have passed away, the local ministry would ex- 
hibit a class of men constituted in whole, and not, as now, 
in part, of such only as were zealous, devoted workers in the 
vineyard of the Lord. In this simple process, a change in 
the licensing system, is to be found a remedy for all the dif- 
ficulties connected with this local preacher question. Nothing 
else will ever reach them; but this strikes at their true 
source. Having no retroactive effect, and, consequently, not 
interfering with those now invested with the office, it avoids 
all the delicacies and entanglements of the question. Gra- 
12* 



274 PROGRESS 

dually, and without violence or abruptness, it will itself, 
without the necessity of any additional provision, rectify all 
the evils and accomplish the work of purification, so that 
soon, almost before we are aware of it, the process will be 
completed, and our local ministry will stand forth, not as 
now, a mixed mass of heterogeneous elements, but a band of 
men, full of zeal, and devoted with a single eye to the great 
work of Christian usefulness. 

But in a plan for securing a ministry of right qualities — 
a ministry of zeal, and energy, and self-denial, it is not 
enough to guard the door of admission, so as to allow none 
to enter but such as evince these qualities — it is not enough 
to see to it that all who start in this great work shall be those 
only of right qualifications. These provisions, it is true, are 
the most important, and will contribute more than all else 
to secure the right object. Inherently prone as all men are 
to relapses, and abounding as the world does in influences 
likely successfully to antagonize even the best of men, there 
is no assurance that a ministry, however pure and rightly 
prompted in the outset, will continue so, unless the policy 
adopted to govern them has a directly favorable bearing, in 
these respects. 

Now, such a policy will involve two principles. 

The first is, that the interests of the work shall always be 
held as paramount to individual convenience and pleasure. 
This, in fact, is the true principle. It is an elementary law 
of God's economy, that particulars must yield to generals — 
that the individual must be subordinated to the general 
good. The glory of G-od is staked upon the triumph of his 
kingdom, and the tenure of every station, in the scheme of 
God's aggressive forces, is a willingness to merge all personal 
considerations into the paramount object of promoting the 
common cause. No man, therefore, who does not consider 
himself as thus subordinate to the great work proper to the 



THE MINISTERIAL FUNCTION. 275 

ministry, can have such conceptions of its responsibilities, as 
is necessary to elicit and sustain the true motives which 
should actuate him. Saint Paul thus understood his calling, 
and thus did our early Methodist preachers understand theirs. 
They looked not to themselves primarily, or to their own per- 
sonal convenience. The great object before them, was the 
glory of G-od and the good of souls ; and all considerations 
of self yielded to the paramount interests of the cause of 
Christ. They counted all things but loss for the excellency 
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus their Lord, for whom they 
suffered the loss of all things, and counted them but dung, 
that they might win Christ. Such a principle once aban- 
doned, the ministry sinks into a mere profession — a mere 
mode of livelihood — in which the question becomes not, 
how much good can be done, but how may personal con- 
venience be promoted, how may the interests of self be ad- 
vanced; but when adhered to, then the feelings and aims 
of all merge into the one great object of the greatest good to 
men — personal interests are subjected to the higher con- 
siderations of the cause of Christ — the spirit of faith, of 
zeal, of disinterested love, of self-denying, self-sacrificing 
devotion reigns, and the ministry, controlled by the glorious, 
the heroic martyr-purpose of their Master, are, in their ex- 
amples, a living demonstration of the divinity of their 
religion, and, in their labors, the real successors of the 
apostles, the genuine representatives of a true ministry of 
the Lord Jesus Christ. 

In the Methodist Church, it is in the examination of char- 
acter, in the distribution of the appointments of the preachers, 
and in the kind and amount of the work required of them, 
that this principle is to be particularly applied. These are 
the points especially, at which it needs to be applied, in order 
to maintain its ascendency in the operations of the ministry, 
and to keep alive those qualities in the ministry, which its 



276 PROGRESS. 

right ascendency is so well calculated to educe and sustain. 
And these are the points, especially that of the distribution 
of the appointments, at which it must be applied, because, 
under the method of distribution growing out of the itinerant 
system of the Methodist Church, the failure clearly to recog- 
nize and to conform to this principle would necessarily be 
followed by a rise, throughout the entire ranks, of a spirit of 
mutual jealousy and dissatisfaction, which would inevitably 
result in the overthrow of our present system, and in con- 
sequences every way hurtful to the cause of G-od. Methodist 
itinerancy can exist on no other principle. It is this which 
reconciles the preacher to his appointment, as just, and in 
the order of Providence ; and it is this which nerves him to 
encounter its sacrifices and labors, when entered upon. In- 
deed, it is the corner-stone, the foundation principle of the 
whole Methodist system — so far as it affects its regular minis- 
try, the true and only sheet-anchor of its safety. 

But as important as is this principle to the safety of the 
itinerant system, as earnestly as it was maintained in all the 
early periods of Methodism, and as vital as it is to a rightly 
constituted and successful ministry, yet there are not wanting 
signs of the gradual decline of its influence, and of the cor- 
responding rise of the opposite principle — the predominance of 
the idea of self, in the aims and movements of the ministry. 
This most unfortunate tendency is attributable to two causes. 

First, the gradual relaxation of the Episcopal preroga- 
tive. In the days of Asbury and McKendree, when that 
prerogative was sufficiently strong to determine through itself 
the destiny of the preachers, and all felt subject to it, 
then none expected any thing else than that their personal 
claims would be held subordinate to the interests of the 
work ; and with such views, they . were fully consecrated 
to the one work, and content, while subject to that 
authority, to be used in any way that the interests of the 



THE MINISTERIAL FUNCTION. 277 

common cause might require. The decisions of the Bishop 
were regarded as the voice of Providence, and all felt satisfied 
to be held as far subject to the interests of the cause, as might 
seem in his godly judgment to be most fit. But the influence 
of the popular element in civil government, modifying the 
prevailing views of the just powers of the Bishop — as it 
has often, most deplorably, those entertained of authority in 
almost all other departments — has compelled a surrender of 
much of that prerogative. Private manoeuvring, or at least 
interference, either through Presiding Elders or in person, 
has become an important agency in deciding cabinet issues, 
and, as a consequence, by virtue of the very constitution of 
human nature, private views and personal convenience are 
becoming important elements to be considered, in the distri- 
bution of the work of the ministry. It is easy to see, that in 
proportion as the power of the Bishops is diminished by its 
transfer to the preachers, to the same extent will selfish con- 
siderations determine the movements of the preachers, and 
the principle of supreme reference to the interests of the 
work be surrendered. The relaxation of Episcopal preroga- 
tive in the Methodist Church has been a great, and the con- 
tinuance of it will prove a fatal, error. The ascendency of 
this great principle, in the scheme of the ministry, of para- 
mount regard for the common cause, and, by consequence, 
the existence itself of a true ministry, and, what is of vital 
importance, the itinerant system itself, all depend upon the 
retention of the Episcopal prerogative, in the exercise of the 
stationing function, in the whole of its original strength and 
fullness. This, then, is the most important function possible 
to the Episcopacy — indeed, the one so important, that every 
other end which it is possible for the Episcopacy to subserve 
must, if necessary, be sacrificed in order to maintain it. The 
policy, therefore, advocated by some, of an increase of Bishops, 
to afford the masses the benefit of their more frequent pastoral 



278 PROGRESS. 

visitations and pulpit ministrations, is a mistaken, and would 
prove, as we believe, a ruinous one. Its effect would be, to 
lessen the bold of tbe Bishops upon the reverence and pro- 
found respect of the ministry generally, and thereby to impair 
their prerogative in the exercise of the stationing power. For, 
in the first place, in proportion as the number is increased, 
the probabilities of bringing in unsuitable men, of making 
unfortunate selections, are increased : at all events, the stand- 
ard of qualifications, as to many at least, is lowered. But the 
influence of Bishops is not dependent upon the oflice : the 
character of the office itself, on the contrary, is largely de- 
pendent upon the qualifications of those who are its incum- 
bents. Again : there can be no doubt that the dignity of the 
Episcopal office, the reverence entertained for it, and the con- 
sequent influence of which it is capable, is largely dependent 
upon the fact of its limitation to a few. This would not be 
so, if this smallness of number involved a failure to meet every- 
where the essential requirement of the oflice, that is, the ex- 
ercise of the stationing authority, so that others, not holding 
the oflice, had to be substituted, and share, even temporarily, 
its authority. This alternative always tends to lower the dig- 
nity of the office. And the strength of the Episcopacy, there- 
fore, ought, by all means, ever to be adequate to perform this 
essential work. It was to a large extent owing to this limit- 
edness of number, in the days of Asbury and McKendree, that 
they were held in such profound respect by the entire Church, 
and were enabled to wield so vigorously the Episcopal pre- 
rogative. It is a fundamental principle of human nature, 
that the reverence it entertains for dignitaries, and its subjec- 
tion to their authority, depends very greatly upon the oppor- 
tunities given for the exercise of the imagination, by the 
remoteness and rareness of these objects claiming their respect 
and obedience. " Familiarity breeds contempt ; " and the 
very commonness of the oflice and of the officers impairs its 



THE MINISTERIAL FUNCTION. 279 

and their position and influence. It ought to be recognized 
as a vital truth, that whatever is gained for diffusion in the 
Episcopacy, beyond the limit absolutely required for the sta- 
tioning function, is lost to power and prerogative. Moreover, 
this depreciation of Episcopal standing and influence — the 
consequence of the multiplication of their number — will 
diminish correspondingly the effect, as judged of from the 
present capabilities of the Bishops in this respect, of that 
general intercourse and effort among the people, for which 
it is the object of that multiplication to provide. So that the 
very method adopted to secure to the masses benefit from 
Episcopal intercourse, has embraced in it the element of its 
own certain defeat — the very conditions by which that inter- 
course is secured being precisely those which render it, 
as to the peculiar advantages of it contemplated, wholly 
inefficient and nugatory. The Bishops of the Church ought, 
as far as opportunity will allow, to circulate among the 
people, and to use industriously and zealously the advantages 
of their position to do good among them ; but it is an unwise 
policy to create Bishops with specific and controlling refer- 
ence to this result. 

Secondly, the attempt to harmonize the living in a fixed 
home with itinerant operations — the result of a surrender of 
the idea of a general parsonage system. Except in a few 
cases, in which right purposes are still maintained in spite 
of a bad practice, the very step itself implies a superior refer- 
ence to the interests of self, and the consequent abandonment 
of this higher principle ; and if it does not, it is the un- 
avoidable, the almost inevitable, effect of its working, finally 
to put those who take it in a position, in which they are com- 
pelled to make the interests of self paramount to the interests 
of the work, and thereby to forfeit the true spirit and prac- 
tice of right ministers of the gospel of Christ. Necessarily, 
therefore, the ultimate effect of this localizing policy is to 



280 PROGRESS. 

place all who adopt it without the pale of this great govern- 
ing principle of the ministry ; and to its frequent adoption, 
therefore, is to be attributed, in great degree, the unfortunate 
decline of this principle, so perceptible in the movements of 
our modern ministry. 

The second principle involved in a policy framed to per- 
petuate purity and right motive in the ministry, is that of low 
salaries. There can be no doubt, that it is an obligation most 
imperative upon the Church that her ministry should be sup- 
ported ; but it is a great mistake to suppose that it is either 
just or expedient, that the amount of it should be on that 
enlarged and highly liberal scale sometimes common in other 
Churches, and which is the standard clamored for by some in 
the Methodist Church. The economy of Methodism, its friends 
claim to be providential in its arrangement ; and if there is 
any feature of it more so than another, and which has con- 
tributed more than any other to the purity and energy of her 
ministers, it is that of the principle of low salaries, with 
which it originally set out. "We deny not that the principle 
may have been carried too far, and that therefore incidentally 
evil has resulted. We deny not that even now, in some 
quarters and in reference to some individuals, from a con- 
tracted, niggardly spirit, it is pushed to an extreme from 
which serious disadvantage has followed. We mean to say 
that the principle in itself is a safe and valuable one, and that 
its effect in the Methodist Church has been highly conserva- 
tive and useful. 

We hold the true rule to be, that the amount of salary is 
to be determined, not by an estimate of what men of like 
qualifications may be able to make in the secular employments 
of life, but of what is the least amount necessary comfortably 
to support men of like social standing. The ministerial call- 
ing should never be held as a lucrative employment, both 
because it is wrong to speculate on the liberality of the Church, 



THE MINISTERIAL FUNCTION. 281 

and because the requisition, by tbe Scriptures, upon tha 
Church, is restricted to a support, and embraces nothing 
more. Men who have gone into the ministry are supposed, 
in the Divine economy, to be actuated by a high, disinterested 
motive of supreme love for the cause of God, and to have 
sacrificed all idea of worldly gain to the higher, more glorious 
object to which they are called, of winning souls to Christ. 
While, therefore, all ministers devoted exclusively to their 
peculiar work, should have a support from the Church — a 
support corresponding with their social position, because any 
thing less than this would possibly involve social depression 
and an impairment of usefulness, yet any thing more than 
this must be held as wrong in principle. Indeed, any thing 
more than this — to make the ministry a vocation involving 
no rigid economy or self-denial in pecuniary matters, but, on 
the contrary, one of easy, abundant living, and, it may be, 
of actual money-saving, would be followed by the most un- 
favorable consequences. First, it would constitute a ground 
of strong enticement into it, from not only a wrong but a 
corrupt motive — an enticement which in this day, when the 
office of the minister involves so little of personal sacrifice, and 
confers so much respectability and favor, will not fail to be 
largely successful; and, secondly, a style of living and an 
effeminacy of character and habits incompatible with that 
spirit of self-denial and self-sacrifice, with that laboriousness 
and zeal, which ought to be inseparable from the minister any- 
where, and which are indispensable to the occupancy of many 
fields of labor — indeed, to the maintenance of the itinerant 
system. Low salaries, therefore, are conservative of a pure, 
self-denying, laborious ministry. It is a remarkable fact in 
the history of the Church, that God calls but few of the 
wealthier class to the sacred office. Christ's apostles were 
taken from occupations which indicate their poverty. It is a 
fact which finds its explanation, doubtless, in this considera- 



282 PROGRESS. 

tion, that the feelings and habits which pecuniary abundance 
most generally superinduces, are incompatible with the main- 
tenance of those qualities necessary to the highest efficiency 
and success, in this important vocation. 

From this extended survey, it cannot fail to be evident, that 
the change in the mode of admission we have proposed, and 
an adherence to a policy governing the ministry, characterized 
by the principles set forth, will almost certainly insure a min- 
istry in whom the right qualities — the qualities of faith, of 
zeal, and self-denying faithfulness — are ever paramount. 
Then shall we have a ministry ready to encounter any risk, 
to submit to any sacrifice, which an unfaltering prosecution 
of their high calling, under any circumstances, may demand — 
a ministry disciplined to toil and labor, and who expect nothing 
else than to endure hardship, and to be industriously, zealously, 
self-denyingly devoted to the sacred interests of their voca- 
tion — a ministry full of zeal in behalf of their Master's in- 
terests and of the disinterested love of souls ; and who, not 
satisfied with that amount of performance which answers to 
screen them from public censure, (the limit very generally, 
in this day, of ministerial labor,) are themselves ever on the 
alert to discover every practicable mode of usefulness, and, 
self-impelled, spontaneously enter upon every enterprise, upon 
every course of action, that promises good to men. 

Indeed, with such a ministry, we hardly need any thing 
more to insure the ultimate development of every ministerial 
function. The right use of the pulpit, as it respects both 
its topics and their mode of presentation, the full employment 
of the pastoral function, and the occupancy of that wide sphere 
of duty appropriate to the ministry, and indispensable, as we 
have shown, to the full development of the various functions 
of the Church — all will in the end inevitably follow. 

It is a ministry with these qualities in the ascendant, which 
is, in fact, the end to be aimed at, in all efforts to bring out 



THE MINISTERIAL FUNCTION. 283 

fully the ministerial function. This obtained, all else will 
follow necessary to completeness, whether of ministerial quali- 
fication or of ministerial operation. 

Nor will the system we propose, so stringent as to secure 
and maintain these qualities, and restricting ministers as a 
class to those alone who possess them, necessarily, as some 
might suppose, especially in view of the constantly enlarging 
field for enterprise, reduce the ministry to an inadequate num- 
ber. On the contrary, we maintain that it is the absence of 
such a system, and the consequent lowness of the ministerial 
standard, in respect of these high qualities, which accounts 
for the present lack of laborers so often deplored. Let this 
high standard be adopted, and the class of our ministry be 
confined to those actuated by these noble principles and aims, 
and then, with God's own conditions fulfilled, and the Church 
constantly abounding and alive with all those fruits of piety, 
and zeal, and enterprise, which could not fail to ripen from 
the labors of those thus actuated, that divine Head who is 
ever so watchful and careful of the interests of his Church, 
would be free to take care of and manage this interest in his 
own way, and hence would see to it that there should be 
laborers, not only in sufficiency, but more abundant, more 
efficient and successful, than now or in all the past. 

The proper development of the ministerial function thus 
elaborately set forth, implying as it does the entire abandon- 
ment by the ministry, and especially the itinerant ministry, 
of all secular employment, of all methods of worldly gain, and 
a full, unqualified consecration to their own great work, 
necessarily cuts them off from all privilege of providing, by 
their own direct agency, for wants absolutely essential to their 
nature. For as subject both in themselves and in their 
families to the conditions common to humanity, they, of course, 
have wants which nothing but earthly resources can supply. 
But the economy of Grod is ever consistent, and consequently 



284 PROGRESS. 

He has seen to it that, while calling the ministry to this ex- 
clusively spiritual vocation, these temporal wants shall them- 
selves be provided for, by devolving the duty of their supply 
upon the Church, whose interests they serve. Hence, it is a 
fixed fact, in the system of G-od's arrangement, that corre- 
spondingly with the imperativeness of the obligation upon the 
preacher, to devote himself exclusively to his one work, is 
that of the correlative obligation upon the Church, to furnish 
that supply of his wants by which such devotion is rendered 
practicable. 

There is peculiar wisdom in such an arrangement. First : 
It implies a division of labor, of peculiar fitness and efficiency, 
each party doing that portion of the work to which its quali- 
fications and circumstances best adapt it. Secondly : Conse- 
crated, as the preacher exclusively is, under the noblest, most 
disinterested impulses, to these the highest interests of man, 
it is but right, it is but just, that whatever is necessary to 
meet wants, the chances for a suitable provision of which 
are thus abandoned by him in such consecration, shall be 
supplied by the Church. Thirdly: Such an arrangement, 
identifying the Church with the preacher, constituting her 
part and parcel of a system of agency of which he is the 
centre, is wisely adapted to secure her sympathy and coopera- 
tion in the furtherance of the great designs to which he is 
devoted. u The laborer," saith the Scriptures, " is worthy 
of his hire." And, again, " even so hath the Lord ordained 
that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel." 

But what now, in detail, are those wants of the preacher 
which it is incumbent upon the Church to supply ? 

1. A home. Of course the preacher must have a home, 
and a home being obtained only by secular resources, all 
seeking of which he has abandoned, it is the duty of the 
Church to provide it for him. The parsonage system we re- 
gard the best the Church can adopt, as providing for this 



THE MINISTERIAL FUNCTION. 285 

want. This insures a home for the preacher at all times, and 
avoids the perplexity and uncertainty consequent upon the 
necessity of procuring one every year. This allows of a cer- 
tainty in the suitableness of the location of the preacher's 
home at all times, which could hardly be expected under a 
system which compels new arrangements annually. This 
allows the constant suitable furniture of the preacher's home, 
without which the arrangements of the church procuring a 
home are incomplete; but which is impracticable under a 
system changing the house of the preacher periodically. The 
working of the parsonage system, on those circuits and sta- 
tions where it has been properly tried, proves both its prac- 
ticability and its excellence. There is no self-sustaining 
circuit or station which is unable to provide a comfortable 
and well-furnished parsonage. It is one of the evils of the 
localizing policy of our itinerants, that it has tended to dis- 
courage this system : indeed, that it has effectually defeated 
it as the one of universal prevalence. If this policy could 
be abandoned, and the parsonage system everywhere be in- 
sisted and relied upon, our preachers would soon find every- 
where well-provided homes, by which their own convenience 
and comfort and usefulness would be greatly promoted ; for 
we can but believe that the Church, if trusted in this 
matter, as in all others relating to their physical wants, 
would not fail, in this enlightened day, soon to prove herself 
worthy of the confidence reposed. While, however, the 
preachers are divided in their policy in this matter, no system 
of free homes can be expected universally to prevail. The 
adoption of some plan, compelling the preacher to occupy the 
parsonage, wherever one is provided, would tend much to 
remove the discouragements to this system, and to its con- 
tinuance where it has been adopted. 

2. A comfortable support. The rule by which the amount 
for this purpose is to be determined has already been stated. 



286 PROGRESS. 

But whatever is the true amount ought of course to be pro- 
vided; for the preacher has the wants common to humanity, 
and it is the duty of the Church to supply these wants. 
Three things ought to be regarded in the provision of the 
preacher's salary. First : that it be as near as possible uni- 
form, in all the various fields of labor, as to the principles 
which determine the amount. Fluctuation in amounts, dif- 
ferent years, maintains in the preacher's mind a degree of 
suspense and uncertainty which precludes all reliance upon 
calculations of the future, and gives rise to the necessity of 
constant variation in his habits and style of living, unfavorable 
to his own comfort and the well-being of his family. Secondly : 
that the collections of salary be made with some regularity, 
as to the periods of the year, avoiding that uncertainty and 
confusion, in this respect, so often in conflict with the con- 
venience and the best interests of the preacher. Thirdly : 
that the preacher himself be wholly disconnected, by settled 
arrangement, from the whole subject of the finances, as they 
refer to his own salary, and relieved thereby from the necessity 
of becoming a party in the plan providing for himself, so 
annoying and painful to minds of proper delicacy and refine- 
ment. 

3. The education of his children. Now, we hold that 
whatever of pecuniary means the preacher needs to discharge 
obligations inseparable from his actual relations, ought to be 
supplied by the Church. The ground of this general obliga- 
tion is the same with that of the obligation to support his 
family, which is, that his abandonment of the ordinary means 
of gain, for the sake of devoting himself to these highest in- 
terests of men, ought not to be allowed by those thus served 
to involve the loss of such gain, as far as it is necessary to 
enable him to discharge his own actual obligations. Now, 
that the preacher ought to educate his children is evident, 
not only from all those considerations imposing such a duty 



THE MINISTERIAL FUNCTION. 287 

upon parents, which apply to him as to all others, but for 
other reasons. Neglect in this particular, and that ignorance 
and loss of respectability, if not demoralization, in respect of 
his children, apt to result from it, reflects unfavorably upon 
the preacher himself, and affects injuriously his capacity for 
usefulness. Besides, as the professed friend of education, as 
an enterprise to which society everywhere is urged, he is ex- 
pected to lead the way, as far as practicable, in his own ex- 
ample, and to give such proofs of his own sincerity, in the 
advocacy of it, as are afforded in efforts to educate his own 
children. It follows, therefore, that the education of the 
preacher's children is a duty incumbent upon him, and, as 
such, that it is the duty of the Church to furnish the pecu- 
niary facilities necessary to this end. This obligation, thus 
devolved upon the Church, by virtue of her relation to her 
ministers, is enforced by the additional considerations that, 
in its discharge, other important ends are subserved, viz., 
the expansion of the zeal, the liberality, and the disinterest- 
edness of the Church, which are important results in her 
proper development ; and the increase of the number of the 
educated under the auspices of the Church, or Christian in- 
fluence, which, as we have seen, is a valuable means for the 
augmentation of the resources and the efficiency of the 
Church, showing that, in the economy of Grod, there is a mu- 
tual connexion and harmony between all duties, whereby the 
performance of one is enforced by all the advantages which 
result from the performance of others. 

There are two methods by which the Church may fulfil this 
obligation. 1st, by means of a general fund, contributed with 
specific reference to this object — the method already adopted 
in some of the Conferences; and, 2d, by an increase of the 
salary of those who have children, with the view to meet the 
expense of their liberal education. Both methods might, and 
perhaps ought to be combined, but the latter we would chiefly 



288 PROGRESS. 

rely upon, as being less complicated, and capable of extension 
to a greater number, and because it makes the parent himself 
the almoner — a method more in harmony with nature, and 
better calculated to perpetuate in offspring right filial senti- 
ments. 

4. Those little conveniences and facilities and attentions, 
which are to be supplied rather by acts of good neighborhood, 
and of spontaneous, vigilant kindness, than by any regular 
system of arrangement seeking to provide them in advance. 
Changing as the home of the preacher is, he is denied the 
privilege, even if he were pecuniarily able, of accumulating 
around him whatever may be necessary to his own and family's 
comfort, in all circumstances, but in this respect is largely 
dependent and helpless. Now, since these are disabilities 
consequent upon a life of consecration, having a direct bear- 
ing upon the Church's welfare, it is but just that she should 
be not only on the alert to anticipate and to discover them, 
but to contribute her agency kindly and freely to relieve them. 
Aside from the relief and sense of security, a bearing like 
this on the part of the Church toward her preachers, so full 
of sympathy and kindness, is certain to afford, and of its 
tendency to cherish, in the Church herself, some of the finest 
elements of elevated Christian piety: it imparts to the 
preachers themselves a degree of strength and encouragement 
well calculated to animate and sustain them in their labors of 
love, of zeal, and of self-sacrificing devotion. 

Thus provided, amply and fully, with all that is required 
to meet their own wants, and to enable them to fulfill any 
obligations that may arise out of their actual relations, the 
ministry, unhindered and free, can devote themselves, without 
reserve, to their own specific work — to the faithful prosecu- 
tion of every function appropriate to their exalted office. 



SECTION VII. 

THE SPIRITUAL FUNCTION. 

The great end of the gospel — that for which it was pro- 
vided — is the achievement of supernatural, or, more properly, 
spiritual results in the experience of the children of men. 
And it is because of this fact, and of the peculiar nature of 
all that preliminary work preparatory to and promotive of 
these results, that the accompaniment of the divine sanction, 
and of the divine influence, is the essential condition to the 
efficacy and success of all Christian agency. Church organ- 
ization, and all that combination of means for furthering the 
objects of the gospel, whether employed by the Church in 
her associate capacity, or by individuals on their own respons- 
ibility, are nothing more than a mere system of machinery, 
through which divine influence exerts itself to produce its 
own results, and which, unless operated by this influence, is 
wholly inefficient as to the peculiar and specific objects of the 
gospel. It is the element of spiritual power — of divine 
agency, directly and efficiently exerted, that overcomes the 
difficulties to the progress of the gospel, and that actually 
achieves that progress: all else are mere modes — a mere 
combination of media, through which that agency is commu- 
nicated — the appointed conditions of its realization. The 
Church, therefore, or, more properly, the forces of the Church, 
when rightly constituted, have a spiritual function blending 
with and pervading each and all its other functions, the re- 
cognition and exercise of which is indispensable to their effi- 
ciency and success. And so entire is this dependence upon 
13 (289) 



290 PROGRESS. 

the divine agency for all that is valuable and saving in Chris- 
tianity, that Church history reveals no fact more clearly than 
that the power and purity and evangelical progress of the 
Church, as well as the signal excellence of Christian example 
in individual cases, have been precisely in the ratio in which 
this element was recognized, and the conditions for its attain- 
ment were fulfilled. 

The early Church herself, the witness of the doings of our 
Saviour while on earth, of the acts of the Apostles, and of 
the wonderful results on the day of Pentecost — herself in- 
structed by and associated with teachers divinely inspired, 
and herself, amidst the persecutions and trials to which she 
was subjected, the object of sustaining and guiding grace that 
could only be attributed to that divine interposition which had 
been so recently promised her — was in the very outset fully 
imbued with this great principle, and sought to maintain a 
conscious dependence upon it in all her operations. Hence 
the glorious success of her early struggles — a success which 
would have been perpetuated with accumulating glory, and a 
speed constantly accelerated, ushering in, ere this perhaps, 
the happy era of universal evangelization, had this primitive, 
scriptural view of the economy of God been maintained. Un- 
fortunately, however, man's nature is repugnant to that sub- 
missiveness which this principle, attributing to God all the 
glory, implies ; but prefers to attribute to God less, by arro- 
gating to himself more, and hence, when, by virtue of this 
very principle of divine interposition, the Christian Church 
had assumed a position secure from persecution and dread, at 
that period other views were allowed to supplant it, and her 
spiritual function, no longer recognized, was abandoned and 
lost. And ev'er since that day, excepting a protracted period 
when the powers of darkness, having well-nigh completely 
triumphed, had well-nigh universally shut out all idea of God, 
as an element of direct influence in Christian operations, and 



THE SPIRITUAL FUNCTION. 291 

all was one continuous scene of moral night, the history of 
the Church has exhibited a constant struggle — a struggle, in 
fact, that has governed that history — having in view, on the 
one side, the recognition and ascendency of this great element, 
and, on the other, its overthrow and perpetual banishment. 
And in so far as this antagonist party in this struggle has 
been successful, and this great doctrine of immediate divine 
agency has been held in abeyance or forgotten, nothing has 
been more evident than that, while there may have been ad- 
vancement in the spread of Church organization and the sub- 
jection of people to its sway, it was an advancement rather 
nominal than real — an advancement in dominion over the 
superstition, or the fears, or, as in many cases, the mere phy- 
sical nature of man, rather than in those results which involve 
the true objects of the gospel, the elevation and the final sal- 
vation of the human race. 

Though this constant struggle to exclude this sense of 
dependence upon spiritual -agency, which constitutes her 
spiritual function, is, after all, traceable to the same funda- 
mental cause, the enmity of the human heart to divine 
control, yet the precise forms which it has assumed and ex- 
hibited have varied in different periods, according to the 
degree of progress and the relative condition of the indivi- 
dual man. 

The first was by the substitution of the Church, or rather 
the authorities of the Church, in the place of God. It is 
easy to perceive that, in any state of things in which human 
authority is made to take the place of divine, so that men 
look for salvation to the former instead of the latter, the latter 
will of course be ignored and excluded. Prevailing as was 
the monarchical form of government in the earlier days of 
the Church, and trained as were the masses to subjection to 
the few, it is not difficult to perceive, not only how the rulers 
of the Church obtained a concession to themselves of prero- 



292 PROGRESS. 

gatives properly divine, but that a tendency in human nature 
to divest itself of this spiritual dependence and connection, 
existing at that period, this would be the most natural form 
which it would assume. It was that form whose development 
was the natural sequence of the condition of men, individu- 
ally and socially, then existing. 

But though it succeeded so far as totally to revolutionize 
the organization of the Church, setting man in the place of 
G-od, and, as it respects the functions of the Church, exclud- 
ing all idea of divine communication or agency, and though 
this state of things continued so long as to shroud the world 
for a protracted period of centuries in well-nigh universal 
darkness, yet there were not wanting, even under these for- 
bidding circumstances, and during this long night of moral 
gloom and desolation, those who earnestly protested against 
this abandonment of God. Huss and Wycliffe, and many 
others, whose names are without a place in history, manfully 
and heroically contended for the truth; and though they 
were crushed themselves by the surrounding forces of perse- 
cution and death, yet the light of their example and labors 
could never be extinguished, but continued on in brightening 
effulgence and in widening diffusion, until the Reformation 
by Martin Luther once more brought truth into the ascend- 
ency, and restored this great principle to its rightful place in 
the system of the Church and in the faith of Christians. The 
Reformation of Luther was, indeed, nothing more than a pro- 
test against the abandonment of the spiritual function of the 
Church — a reproclamation of it, and a re establishment of it 
in the faith of individual Christians, and in the opera- 
tions of the Christian system. 

But while the Reformation, as to its legitimate effect, se- 
cured the freedom of the individual conscience from the 
thraldom of ecclesiastical despotism, and thereby a triumph 
over this tendency to exclude from the Church her spiritual 



THE SPIRITUAL FUNCTION. 

function, so far, at least, as it manifested itself by interposing 
the Church between man and God, yet the progress of events 
soon revealed that it had only obviated this form of manifest- 
ation to give place, if not so universally, yet to a wide extent, 
to another. Soon the idea of individualism — to which the 
doctrine of immediate communion with Divinity, mainly in- 
sisted on in the Reformation, had given so much prominence 
— this same tendency seized upon, and, pushing it to its ex- 
treme, erected the individual reason as the umpire to which 
the claims and the contents of the Christian Revelation were to 
be subjected, and rationalism became the prominent scheme 
by which the spiritual function of the Church was supplanted. 
And even where rationalism did not prevail, as the system 
consciously embraced, formalism, which was but a legitimate 
fruit of it, and which as effectually ignored the divine ele- 
ment in the functions of the Church, became to a large extent 
the characteristic state of the Christian Church. 

It was after this vital principle of the gospel, which had 
been successfully reasserted in the Reformation by Luther, 
and had been for a while gloriously maintained, had become, 
under these new forms, almost as effectually suppressed as in 
the darkest of the middle ages, that Methodism arose. And 
as the Reformation was the revival and reproclamation of this 
great principle, after the long period of its utter exclusion, 
by hierarchical assumption, so Methodism was nothing more 
than the reaction of this same principle against the standard 
of the individual reason, or of ecclesiastical formalism, which 
were tending no less to its practical annihilation. 

Methodism, therefore, was the second grand Reformation, 
having in view the same great object as the first — the restor- 
ation of the spiritual function of the Church — the reasser- 
tion and the reestablishment of the great doctrine of G-od in 
his gospel. Starting with this great motive, and with this as 
its basis, Methodism, in its original character, was nothing 



294 PROGRESS. 

but the simple gospel itself, reproclaimed and going forth to 
do the work of the gospel. Little and contemned, like the 
earlier Christian Church, it arose upon the strength of its 
spiritual function ; and, by the efficiency of that function 
alone, has not only triumphed over all persecution, and estab- 
lished itself in its own spiritual character, the vastest of 
evangelical denominations, but has thus far successfully met 
the claims of its great mission, of arresting the tide of ra- 
tionalism and of formalism, against which it was originally 
arrayed, and, by challenging the attention of those great 
bodies which at first despised it, of becoming the mighty in- 
strumentality of leading the entire Protestant world back to 
the great object of the Lutheran Reformation — to the great 
cardinal principle of the primitive Church, the hearty recog- 
nition of the spiritual element in the faith and system of the 
general Church. 

But, though founded with the view to this great principle, 
and indebted alone for its triumphant success to its constant 
recognition, yet it must be confessed that even in Methodism 
the signs are not wanting, that that same tendency to ignore 
and exclude it, which so soon obscured the fair prospects of 
the early Church, and so soon threatened to undo the happy 
results of the Lutheran Reformation, has begun to manifest 
itself. Indeed, so obvious are they as to give some plausi- 
bility to the theory, that, in the great scheme of the Church, 
there are necessarily epochs of rise and decline, and that, 
while every system, however perfect and well guarded in the 
outset, must, by reason of the conditions of humanity, to 
which it is subject, be liable to deterioration and decline, the 
only ground of hope is, that, having their centre on the other 
side in Grod, and devised for his own purposes, there is always 
a power of reproductiveness which insures in the stead of 
those grown obsolete, others, which, coming into existence with 
fresher impulses, modified and arranged under all the lights 



THE SPIRITUAL FUNCTION. 295 

of the past, and in closer adaptation to existing conditions 
and circumstances, are more fully furnished for the great pur- 
poses of a gracious Providence. But we indulge no appre- 
hension of the obsolescence of Methodism, in obedience to 
any such theory, although, as before intimated, there are not 
wanting indications of a decline of her hold upon this great 
principle, by virtue of which she has attained her present 
position of power and usefulness, and without which she must 
indeed grow weak and fall. These indications, it is true, are 
not of the gross and palpable character of those against 
which the Reformation was a revolt, or of those which Me- 
thodism in its origin was designed to supplant ; for it will 
be observed, in respect of those forms of manifestation which 
this tendency to divest the Church of its spiritual function 
has assumed, that there has been, in each successive de- 
velopment, a gradual transition from the gross and palpable 
to the more refined and subtle — the result of a gradual 
progress in the Church in her conceptions of the divine 
economy, and a limitation of the liabilities of the Church, 
in this respect, to a field narrower and less obvious. Still, 
they are indications none the less significant : they are found 
in several facts — facts which, though they may not in every 
instance so universally prevail as to characterize the whole 
Church, yet sufficiently so in every case to exhibit active 
tendencies, marked directions, and to justify conclusions of 
general application. 

The first we notice, is the tendency, becoming so common, 
to consider certain advantages of a purely worldly or human 
character as in themselves competent, absolutely and inde- 
pendently, to give success to the Christian cause. 1st. Those 
which result from a connection with the Church of the 
classes of wealth and high social position. In the earlier 
days of Methodism, when its membership was confined to 
the humbler ranks of society, there was but little temptation 



296 PROGRESS, 

to substitute these social forces in the place of immediate 
divine agency ; but now, since these higher classes have been 
brought so numerously within its embrace, it cannot be dis- 
guised, that a tendency has become, by no means uncommon, 
to regard them as combining in themselves independently 
those advantages which are to insure the desired success to 
the interests of the Church. The charms which, in the 
estimation of men, always belong to wealth and high posi- 
tion, aided by the public sentiment, which many of these 
classes have themselves contributed to infuse, of their own 
importance, from the exaggerated estimate they place upon 
the immunities which distinguish them, together with the 
obvious fact of the advantages they do confer, when em- 
ployed simply as means or instruments, are the ground upon 
which this tendency has been excited. But that it exists 
quite extensively, is evident to the observation of all who 
notice with any care the internal affairs of the Church. 
Among a variety of proofs, these may be stated as sufficient. 
First, the disposition, by no means rare, to modify the usages, 
and even the economy of the Church, to pander to and 
secure these classes. Secondly, the disposition, no less com- 
mon, to relax the standard of the Church, that these may be 
secured or retained. Thirdly, the superior and special refer- 
ence so habitually had to them, both in the plans of the 
Church itself, and in the movements of individual men. 
And, fourthly, the regard which is had for the advantages 
which the accession of these classes confer, and the conscious 
security and confidence imparted by them. But it of course 
follows, that, in the ratio in which these are thus confided in, 
as in themselves capable of securing the desired success in 
the operations of the Church, the divine element in Church 
agency is repudiated — both because they are to that extent 
substitutes for that element, and because, from the very 
nature of that kind of success which they thus absolutely 



THE SPIRITUAL FUNCTION. 297 

and of themselves are capable of achieving, the character of 
the progress looked to in the affairs of the Church, is such as 
is purely worldly, and wholly without that element. 

2d. Those which are derived from the purely intellectual 
element of the ministry. That there is a tendency, even in 
the Methodist Church, to substitute talent in the ministry in 
the place of the divine agency, and thus to supplant it, is 
seen in these facts : the reliance placed upon it as indispen- 
sable to success in revivals — the disposition to overlook and 
even to slight those who have no special claims to it, however 
distinguished for piety, for zeal, and for successful labors — 
the belief, quite common, that the logical enforcement and 
eloquent expression of truth alone will secure to it success — 
and, lastly, the disposition, by means of theological semina- 
ries, and other favorite schemes of ministerial improvement, 
to change that earlier standard of Methodism, which makes 
spiritual qualifications the test, and to adopt one which makes 
qualifications pertaining more especially to the intellect para- 
mount. 

It is not denied that all these advantages, whether of 
social force or of ministerial talent, are important, and, in- 
deed, indispensable, when regarded as subordinate to and the 
mere instruments of divine agency, and capable of the desired 
success only as they are immediately sanctioned and attended 
by that agency : it is only as they are regarded as more than 
means, and are erected into agencies capable in themselves 
of successful achievement, with powers and functions ascribed 
to them that ought to be referred to God himself, that we 
consider them as objectionable, and as indicating a decline 
in the Church, in her appreciation and use of her spiritual 
function. 

Another fact we notice, as indicating a want of right 
appreciation in the Church of the Divine element in its 
operations, is the disposition to subject the displays of God's 
13* 



298 PROGRESS. 

power, in signal and special blessings to men, to certain false 
conditions, as, for example, to certain periods of the year, 
and the occurrence of special preparatory provisions and 
arrangements. How common is the opinion — so common, 
in fact, as to constitute a fixed peculiarity of the prevailing 
faith — that it is only in certain seasons of the year, and 
when special and suitable external arrangements are made 
for it, that the economy of God seems to allow him to mani- 
fest himself signally gracious to men. Now, a right concep- 
tion of the relations of Grod to the system of means which 
he has devised for the progress of his cause, would limit 
these manifestations of his power by no such restrictions, 
but would feel that, so far as the economy which governs 
his actions is concerned, it allows of the same free inter- 
position of himself at all times and everywhere. Such a 
conception of G-od's economy, we suppose, the early Me- 
thodist preachers had, and hence that they labored not 
only under the firm conviction that the divine agency could 
be exerted through them at all times, and that revival influ- 
ences might attend their labors at all seasons and every- 
where, but that the accompaniment and exertion of that 
agency, being dependent upon faith and zeal, rather than the 
external combinations of human arrangement, there was no 
need to wait an array of preparation and preliminary adjust- 
ment, but that, single-handed and alone, anywhere and 
under all circumstances, it was competent to expect any mea- 
sure of the divine manifestation and of the divine blessing. 
It follows, then, that this limitation to which the manifesta- 
tion of the divine element in Christian operations is sub- 
jected, implies, to that extent, a failure rightly to appreciate 
that element, and an actual limitation of the spiritual function 
of the Church. 

The next fact we notice, as indicating this tendency, is the 
prevailing notion of splendid church edifices — of pews and 



THE SPIRITUAL FUNCTION. 299 

organs in churches. It is impossible to conceive of any 
ground for this notion which does not involve, in some way, 
either a repudiation or a misconception of the spiritual ele- 
ment in Christianity, either as a principle of agency or a 
principle of individual experience. So far as these instru- 
mentalities are relied upon, as a method of attracting men 
into Church-fellowship, by pleasing the senses, by gratifying 
their mere tastes or love of display, they, of course, imply a 
discredit of the divine element as the agency by which the 
cause of Christianity is to be advanced. So far as they are 
relied upon, as a practical method for marking a line of de- 
marcation between the higher and lower classes, of alienating 
the latter that thereby the former may be allowed in a more 
exclusive, united manner to conduct, in their own way, the 
exercises of religion, in addition to their contravention in this 
effect of the great law of Christianity, that the " poor have 
the gospel preached to them," the favorable opinion of them 
shows a misconception of the genius of Christianity, of its 
great spiritual aims and objects, that no less discredits and 
disregards this divine element. So far as they indicate a 
desire to have, and do have, the effect to give more formality 
to religious worship, and indicate a reliance upon those agen- 
cies which charm and gratify the senses, as the means of 
finding interest and entertainment in religious worship, they 
imply — in this total want of conception of the spiritual char- 
acter and aims of that worship — an entire neglect or repu- 
diation of what constitutes the divine element in the energies 
and experiences of Christianity. " God is a spirit, and they 
that worship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth." 
And, finally, so far as either or all of these objects are de- 
signed as helps to worship — to quicken the sensibilities — 
to animate attention — to inspire emotion — or in any way 
to hold the mind or the feelings to the exercises of Chris- 
tianity, they, in that design, not only imply an abandonment 



300 PROGRESS. 

of the true and only source of that help appropriate in all 
these respects, the divine agency, but an actual provision for 
that abandonment. Now, if there be any motive other than 
those thus stated which has prompted, or could be supposed 
to prompt, the desire among Methodists to adopt this mate- 
rialistic system, or rather this paraphernalia system, we con- 
fess our inability to conceive of it; and yet, in respect of 
every one of these, it is evident that they involve either a 
repudiation or a misconception of the spiritual element of 
Christianity, and, consequently, indicate, as far at least as 
they are concerned who experience them, a decline in the 
appreciation of the Church's spiritual function. 

This paraphernalia system is the favorite one of all those 
Churches which, rejecting the spiritual element of Chris- 
tianity, seek the employment of material media, of external 
agencies, to enslave the imagination, and to give interest to 
the otherwise monotonous exercises of religious worship. In 
the absence of these higher resources for success and in- 
terest, it is natural to turn to these as the only substitutes. 
In whatever Church fellowship, therefore, the tendency to 
this system manifests itself, it is but a rational conjecture 
that the motives which prompt it have their origin in loose, 
if not in wholly inadequate conceptions of the spiritual char- 
acter of the Christian system. 

The rationalistic spirit abroad in the Church, is another 
indication of a decline in Methodism of its recognition of the 
divine element in Church operations. There are two attitudes 
which the human mind may assume to the teachings of Reve- 
lation. It may, prompted by the spirit of faith, place itself 
in a submissive attitude, and, as consciously inferior, subject 
itself to their authority j or it may, in a spirit of self-confi- 
dence, assume the attitude of a superior, and thus subject 
their authority to its own. Now, it is only when in the first 
of these attitudes, that the human mind will ever become 



THE SPIRITUAL FUNCTION. 301 

adequately impressed with the supernatural or spiritual aspects 
of Christianity; for when in the other, holding as it does the 
teachings of Christianity as subject to its own operations, of 
course only so much of them will be recognized and admitted 
as fall within its range, and consequently the supernatural 
must be rejected. It may be remarked, that the mind of 
man, when active in relation to Christianity, must be in one 
or the other of these attitudes, and that from this fact, two 
conclusions are deducible : .first, that this long struggle be- 
tween the spiritual element of Christianity, and that tendency 
of constant manifestation to repudiate it, so far at least as it 
has been a contest of reason, has turned at last upon the 
mere fact of the position which the intellect has assumed in 
reference to Christianity, in respect of the mere matter of rela- 
tive superiority ; and, secondly, that the foundation principle 
of every form which the rejection of spiritual Christianity has 
assumed, from that of simple rationalism or formalism, to that 
of downright avowed infidelity, is essentially one and the 
same. Now, the Wesleyan mind, in an eminent degree con- 
trolled by the spirit of humility, of reverence, and faith, 
though within its own proper range active and discriminating, 
is characterized by the steadfastness with which it maintains 
this submissive attitude to the entire contents of the Christian 
Revelation ; and hence the marked earnestness and emphasis 
with which Methodism, especially in all her earlier periods, 
has recognized and upheld all that belongs to the spiritual 
element of the Christian system. There are indications, 
however, in more recent times, of a transition to the other 
attitude, and of the rise, consequently, of a rationalistic spirit 
within her limits — a spirit, as we have seen, utterly incom- 
patible with adequate views of this element. These indications 
are to be found as yet, it is true, rather in the modes and 
tendencies of thought, in the tone and spirit of the thinking 
mind, than in any actual developments of a positive, tangible 



302 PROGRESS. 

form. Still, in the manner in which the great subjects of 
Providence, of the higher forms of Christian experience, of 
the higher departments of Christian self-denial, have been 
attempted to be grappled and handled of late, and the loose 
views on all these subjects which, under this attempt to sub- 
ject these mighty themes to the crucible of human reason, 
are beginning to prevail, already furnish us positive evidences, 
not only of this new attitude which Methodist mind is begin- 
ning to assume, and of the rationalistic spirit following, but 
of what may be expected, as to the continuance of the spiritual 
function of the Church, when this transition shall have become 
more marked and complete. 

There are two principal causes of this change of attitude 
now going on in Methodist mind, and of the consequent rise 
of this spirit. It is an unfortunate effect of our free institu- 
tions, that the personal independence they secure, educates 
the people to an excessive sense of mental independence, the 
manifestations of which are an aversion to all authority in the 
world of mind — a spirit of irreverence for all that is time- 
honored and settled — an exclusive concentration upon ideas 
new and of the present— and an overweening self-sufficiency 
in all that pertains to reason and judgment. Such being the 
characteristic traits of the American mind, generally, it is 
natural that they should manifest themselves no less in the 
attitude which it assumes in respect of the great matters of 
religion. Again : under this general freedom from fear and 
restraint, secured by our free institutions, the whole process 
of mental training in our country — the independent, self- 
sufficient manner to which the general mind is invited and 
encouraged in all the matters of science and criticism — the 
habits of lawlessness, and too often of recklessness, to which 
it is trained in its investigations, and which are very generally 
held as virtues — the constancy with which each and all, as 
independent sovereigns, are called to sit in judgment upon 



THE SPIRITUAL FUNCTION. 303 

every variety of subject, in all departments of knowledge — 
all tend to secure to the mind that character of discipline from 
which this independent attitude in the matters of Christianity, 
as in all else, is inevitable. 

But if, as from this presentation of facts it seems evident, 
there is a decline in the Church in its appreciation and recog- 
nition of its spiritual element, the important question is, What 
are the conditions, the fulfilment of which, will bring her 
back to her right position in reference to this vital subject, 
and secure to her the right elicitation and use of her spiritual 
capabilities ? 

The first we notice, as indispensable, is a right ministry. 

The ministry in themselves, and in the agency they are the 
direct means of employing, constitute, in Methodism, the 
largest portion of the instrumentality in use for the progress 
of Christianity. Of course, therefore, if they could have 
right views and spirit in respect of this subject, so far as that 
in them, as an instrumentality, the divine element should be 
brought to bear, in all its intended application and force, most 
of what constitutes the spiritual function of the Church would 
be realized. But such a ministry would not only secure the 
development of this Divine agency in themselves : their 
example, their spirit, the fruits of their own earnestness and 
zeal, the peculiar themes of their ministry, and the modes of 
their presentation, so different from the cold speculations, the 
stale, lifeless style and subjects of the modern pulpit, would 
all powerfully contribute to the elicitation of right views and 
faith, as to this subject, in the entire mass of the Church. 
It is an additional consideration, therefore, in favor of the 
right improvement of the ministry, that this important specific 
result would follow. 

The second grand condition is a spiritual Church. 

A Church of right spiritual experience would of course 
appreciate the divine element in all Church agency, and the 



304 PROGRESS. 

necessity of its employment in all real Church progress. It 
is this spiritual element, as a matter of experience, that gives 
both the capacity and the inclination to appreciate it as the 
true agency of aggression. But there has been a decline in 
this spiritual character of the experience of the Church, as 
might be inferred from this decline in her faith in the super- 
natural, and as is particularly shown in the following facts. 

1. In her relaxation and abandonment of certain peculiari- 
ties. Methodists were once a peculiar people, separate from 
the world in their spirit, maxims, and aims, as manifested in 
their simplicity of dress, in their studied avoidance of worldly 
amusements and diversions, and in all their general walk and 
intercourse with society. But that these peculiarities, as 
thus manifested, are fast being given up, must be evident to 
the observation of all. Now, if this surrender were attributable 
solely to an advancement in the Church, in her conceptions 
of gospel economy — to any new light which she had received 
from the true source — showing the absurdity, or the folly, or 
the indifference of all these — then, of course, it could not be 
construed as indicating any decline in any thing good or 
valuable ; but examination will show that, instead of to these 
causes, it is to that contact with the world, producing on the 
one hand a love of its maxims, its fashion, and its spirit, and 
a desire to conform to them, and, on the other, the dread of, 
and the desire to escape, the imputation of being singular and 
over-righteous, that it is for the most part to be attributed. 
It is but a succumbing to the spirit of the world, and an in- 
dication of an abandonment of the Bible as the rule of life, 
and of spiritual experience as the source of enjoyment. 

2. In the dependence of the degree of her piety upon 
external circumstances. Christianity, as a spiritual experience, 
derives its sustenance from a divine source. Fed by Grod, 
through prayer and faith and holy living on the part of the 
subject, it lives and flourishes, irrespective of whatever is 



THE SPIRITUAL FUNCTION. 305 

■without. But the religion of many Methodists is dependent 
upon circumstances — to a large extent, upon recurring seasons 
of revival influence, It is a religion which in summer re- 
vives and shines, but which in winter withers and dies. As 
far, therefore, as this is its characteristic, it lacks the spiritual 
element, and is not spiritual religion. 

3. In that aversion, springing up almost everywhere in 
the bosom of the Church, and existing in many quarters in 
a high degree, to those external manifestations of religious 
fervor and joy, once common in the Church — indeed, a pro- 
minent characteristic. Now, that such manifestations are a 
necessary accompaniment of true religion, we affirm not ; yet 
we do maintain, that the almost entire absence of them 
among Methodists now, as compared with the past, it is diffi- 
cult to explain, except on the supposition of a decline in that 
character of Christianity. But even though it be possible to 
explain this absence on principles which do not require such 
supposition, but are entirely compatible with any degree of 
such Christianity — on principles, in fact, which imply an 
improvement in that Christianity, as practically enjoyed — yet 
such manifestations being, in no just view of them, in them- 
selves criminal, but on the contrary almost inevitable in cer- 
tain temperaments, in moments of unusual rise in the tide 
of spiritual fervor and emotion, it does argue a decline in the 
right spiritual, in the right experimental characteristics of 
religion, that among Methodists there should begin to exist, 
by no means uncommonly, an absolute aversion to such mani- 
festations. And yet, that there does exist such aversion, in 
an increasingly wide extent, all must perceive — an aversion, 
too, so strong and decided, as to hold them but as the indica- 
tions either of disreputable ignorance, or of pitiable, mis- 
guided fanaticism. 

4. In the absence of suitable reverence for age, though 
associated with long, laborious, and useful service, every- 



306 PROGRESS. 

where so common in these times. That there is such want 
of reverence for this class — that there is a disposition to set 
men aside, simply because they are old and held as anti- 
quated — to elbow them off, because they have not the acti- 
vity and spirit of their earlier days to hold their places on 
the arena of public service — that there is a younger class 
who, claiming to constitute a party of progress, discredit the 
claims of the older, simply because they are old, must be 
obvious to all who notice the movements of individuals in 
the affairs of the Church. Such manifestations are to be 
witnessed in the common intercourse of society, in the various 
council-boards of the Church, in her deliberative assemblies, 
— indeed, under all circumstances, and on all occasions, where 
by possibility there can be a competition between the claims 
of the younger and the older. They have their origin, 
doubtless, in that same spirit of self-sufficiency and intellectual 
independence which has produced that restlessness of all 
restraint, of all authority, so characteristic of American 
society, and the result of its peculiar institutions. Now, 
such demeanor towards and treatment of those long-tried 
servants of God — of those who have borne themselves honor- 
ably and successfully through the long-continued struggle of 
a well-spent life, implies a want of reverence for Grod, of 
right appreciation of those divine influences which aided 
them, and of those spiritual results which they have been in- 
strumental in accomplishing — of proper apprehension of 
that feature of Christianity which identifies its glory with its 
past benefits and achievements, that can be accounted for 
only in the decline in, or the absence of, the spiritual char- 
acteristics of Christianity, in the experience and spirit of many 
of the Church. 

5. In the decline of the popularity of class-meetings. 
These meetings involve exercises that can be appreciated and 
enjoyed, only by those spiritually regenerated or groaning so 



THE SPIRITUAL FUNCTION. 307 

to be. Such classes of persons will attend and be fond of 
them : all others will find them exceedingly irksome, and 
have a positive aversion to them. The feelings with which 
class-meetings are regarded by Methodists, we hold to be aD 
unfailing test of personal piety. The rule requiring attend- 
ance may and does have an operative effect upon the pious, 
as constituting that sort of remembrancer of duty that human 
nature requires; but upon the lukewarm and spiritually 
dead, it will in the nature of things be to a large extent in- 
effectual and nugatory. Among these, there is an internal 
moral cause of difficulty, and it is this which makes the en- 
forcement of the rule so uncertain, if not impracticable. In 
the earlier days of Methodism these meetings were univer- 
sally esteemed and universally attended. Then the Church 
knew and was content with none other than the standard 
of experimental piety, and abounded with the fruits of 
spiritual fervor and zeal. Now, there is a fast-growing and 
wide-spread opposition to this whole feature of Methodist 
economy, and the rule for its enforcement is to a large extent 
practically inoperative and dead. A declension in the spirit- 
ual, experimental characteristics of the piety of the people, 
which in more recent times has ensued, in sorrow it is 
said, furnishes the sufficient, and, perhaps, the chief explan- 
ation. 

But, if the Church has shown, by all these facts, a decline 
in the divine element of her Christian experience and piety, 
how can she be brought back ? What steps may be taken 
that will contribute to arrest this deplorable tendency, and 
to secure to her religion this its essential feature ? 

The first we would suggest, is a higher standard, and more 
particularity in observing it, for admission into the Church. 
In the earlier periods of Methodism, when the spiritual forces 
of Christianity were in higher tension and activity, there 
might have been nothing lost, but rather much gained, by 



308 PROGRESS. 

the policy of a low standard of spiritual tests for admission 
The circumstances and influences then surrounding Church- 
membership, almost certainly insured in all cases a continuance 
in moral progress, until the right spiritual standard was 
reached. But now this loose manner of admission, by bring- 
ing many in without the necessary spiritual change, and who 
never go on to realize it, and by the neutralizing influence 
which their example and their inertness exert upon others 
who, if untrammelled, would be content with nothing below 
the right degree of piety, the general standard of the piety 
of the entire mass is depressed, and the Church herself is 
reduced in her spiritual enjoyments. An elevation of the 
standard of admission, freeing the Church of these trammels 
and depressing influences, and restricting her membership 
to those of higher spiritual qualifications, would, of course, 
elevate the spiritual, experimental character of her piety. 

It is a great mistake to suppose, that a lower standard of 
admission will promote the interests of the Church, even in 
respect of numbers. A higher standard, by elevating the 
piety of the Church, and thus securing to her more positive 
power and efficiency, by taking away from the world the 
specious argument derived from a delinquent membership, 
and thereby facilitating the access to it of the forces of Chris- 
tianity, would augment the aggressive resources of the 
Church, and of necessity promote her more rapid progress. 
This false notion of a lower standard for the sake of increase, 
depending upon the influences of the future to rectify the 
quality, has been, in fact, an impediment to Methodism. By 
making her membership less spiritual, it has made her 
aggressive, onward march less rapid. 

This elevation of her standard might be effected, without 
any change in her organic law upon this subject. By right 
directions from the ministry, given from the pulpit and in 
private interviews, by allowing suitable time for reflection for 



THE SPIRITUAL FUNCTION. 309 

the right counting of the cost, and by taking those occasions 
for presenting the opportunity for admission when there is 
but little external excitement, and nothing to control the 
action but the cool decisions and spontaneous promptings of 
the individual will, much might be done to obviate unfor- 
tunate accessions, and to raise the general character of the 
religion of the Church to its true elevation of spirituality 
and power. 

Another result which would contribute to the improved 
condition of the spirituality of Methodism, is a better system 
of police, or, in other words, of moral discipline, for the mem- 
bership. The Methodist ministry, by the necessities of the 
itinerant system, have been to a large extent denied the 
opportunities of pastoral or disciplinary work ; but as long as 
the class-meeting system was efficient, this defect was com- 
pensated through its instrumentality, — indeed, it is its ful- 
fillment of this particular function that has made it almost 
indispensable to Methodism, as at present constituted. But 
declining, as this system is, so greatly in recent times, in its 
efficiency, this particular work in many places is almost totally 
neglected. Hence, errors remain uncorrected — admonition 
and advice which, if afforded, would often forestall and re- 
move evil, are withheld — members are not dealt with, when 
by example and a continuance of their Church connection 
harm results — small matters, which in the outset might have 
been easily removed, are permitted to grow up into serious 
evils — *and in many ways, the causes of demoralization and 
decline are allowed to continue and to prevail. Now, some 
change in the general policy of the Church, which would 
permit her disciplinary regulations to be brought to bear in 
all these respects, would remove these evils, and, furthermore, 
would act as a stimulus to exemplariness and care in all that 
pertains to the general work of the Christian, and hence im- 
prove the general characteristics of the religion of the entire 



310 PROGRESS. 

Church. Such a condensation of the appointments of the 
preachers within their fields of labor, with a view to attention 
to all these matters, and such provisions as will hold the 
preachers to them as a part of their accountability, which we 
have shown to be involved in the proper development of the 
ministerial function, would secure, in a very great measure, 
this important result. 

Again : a more abundant provision of the facilities of re- 
ligious reading among the masses, would contribute to improve 
the spiritual character of the religious experience of the 
people. It has been the loss of religious tone in the think- 
ing of the people, and of contact with religious ideas — the 
result of the absence of these facilities — and of the constant 
employment of the mind in secular thinking, and about secu- 
lar ideas, superinduced by the monopoly of the reading taste 
of the people by a secular literature — that has called off the 
Church from those exercises necessary to the maintenance 
of a high standard of religious experience. 

Finally : the more constant employment of Christians iu 
works of usefulness — their more constant enlistment, person- 
ally and directly, in all the enterprises of the Church, which 
would ensue in a proper development of alt the functions of 
the Church, would contribute to this result. A Church, to be 
spiritual, must have always something to do of a directly re- 
ligious character — must have a theatre of religious employ- 
ment, so broad as to keep her members engaged in works of 
usefulness to themselves and to others. In that expansion 
of the forces of the Church — upon which we have elabor- 
ately insisted, as so imperatively demanded by all the interests 
of the Church, and by all the obligations of an effective, pro- 
gressive Christianity — such a theatre will be found. 

These, then, are the conditions : a right ministry and a 
Church of elevated Christian experience, the fulfilment of 
which will secure a right recognition and appreciation of the 



THE SPIRITUAL FUNCTION. 311 

divine agency as the all-pervading element in all the active 
forces of the gospel, and which, leaving the Almighty un- 
hindered in the manifestation of his promised power and 
goodness, will secure to the world the full benefit of the 
Church's spiritual function 



SECTION VIII. 

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS IN FAVOR OF THIS AMPLER 
AND MORE ACTIVE CHURCH SYSTEM. 

To that high and extended career of usefulness, the object 
of that expansion of her forces, the modes and reasons of 
which it has been our aim to unfold and to urge, Methodism 
is called from other considerations, which it has not fallen 
within our design thus far to notice. These, briefly stated, 
are as follow : 

1. The peculiar advantages for such a career, which are 
derived from her peculiar system. 1st. The unity, energy, 
and promptness which her organization secures for the de- 
velopment and execution of whatever she undertakes. It is 
the fault of most Church organizations, that they are wanting 
in these characteristics — that, based upon the principle of a 
diffusion, rather than upon that of a concentration of power, 
they are loose and feeble and inert in all that pertains to 
organic force, and denied the capabilities in their movements 
of unity and vigor. But Methodism has specifically provided 
in her organism for the attribute of power, and for freedom 
in its exercise; and hence, while under her system, she is left 
unrestricted in the choice of her modes of development, she 
has all the requisite elements of vitality and energy for effi- 
cient practical execution. 2d. The facilities for diffusion, 
afforded through the aggressive, expansive character of her 
itinerant system. In the capacity thus derived for propagat- 
ing herself — for any territorial extension of her organization 
and of the resources and objects which it involves — Method- 
ism is peculiar and enjoys unlimited advantages. 
(312) 



ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS. 313 

But in this combination of strength, and power of con- 
centration, with capacity of unlimited diffusiveness — in this 
harmonious interaction of the principle of centralization and 
the principle of universal expansion, thus the peculiar glory 
of Methodist polity, and rendering it so entirely practi- 
cable for Methodism to appropriate every possible function of 
usefulness, and to extend unlimitedly their exercise — is found, 
another reason, urging her to this wider and all-embracing 
sphere of action. 

2. The peculiarly favorable access offered, and facilities 
afforded, by American society, to the successful prosecution of 
all these functions possible to the Church. 

In all other countries — perhaps without an exception — it 
is the immediate effect of the civil institutions existing, to 
hinder the operations of the Church, and in many of them 
there are statutory regulations rigidly enforced, enacted with 
that specific design. The true Church of Christ, where she 
does exist at all, is so guarded and restrained, that it is only 
within a limited range that she can unfold herself at all, and even 
within it her action is greatly enfeebled. In our own country, 
however, these causes of restriction and hinderance are with- 
out existence, and the Church is left free and untrammelled 
in the prosecution to any extent of her entire capabilities. 

In all other countries, the depressed moral condition of 
large portions of society, manifesting itself in indifference, 
because of the lack of right religious ideas — in superstition, 
because of wrong religious training — and in avowed infidelity, 
because of a misconception or ignorance of religious truth — . 
furnishes a perpetual tide of opposition, that exhibits itself, 
not merely in the common forms of error and enmity, but 
often in overt acts of positive resistance, the effect of which 
is to hamper the Church, and to prevent the free expansion 
and successful action of her appropriate forces. But here, 
Christianity has already so generally established a sense of 
14 



814 



PROGRESS. 



its claims in the moral consciousness of the people — has 
contributed already so largely to mould the forms of society, 
and enters so generally as a controlling element in public 
sentiment, subjecting all largely to its sway, that no such 
forms of opposition show themselves ; and the Church may 
expect to encounter, even in the spirit of society, but little 
resistance to the most unlimited employment and use of all 
her capabilities ; and even if motives to such resistance were 
in any quarter felt, the genius of our free institutions, and 
the actual protection they afford to the freedom of conscience 
and the unrestricted enjoyment of the privileges of religion, 
would effectually forestall all overt exhibition of them. 

Indeed, so far from restriction and preclusion from causes 
growing out of the moral condition of society, it is the glory 
of American society that it has reached that state of moral 
progress, in which it not only presents an open door of access 
to all the forces of Christianity, but contains already every 
element possible to it which the Church, for any degree of 
her development, needs —so that she has but to put forth 
her energies to combine and avail herself of them, to make 
the very resources of the social state her own resources, 
and tributary to whatever of power and influence and enter- 
prise it is her appointed office to appropriate and employ. 

When we consider the difficulties which it has ever been 
the history of the Church to encounter, in all societies and 
in all states of society, from the restraints imposed by civil 
institutions, and from the persecutions of men, that there 
should be at last a state of society on our own soil, uni- 
versally prevailing, in which this resistance is no longer 
offered, but in its stead, an open door of access and every 
facility for the free and unchecked operations of the gospel, 
surely among that people the Church ought to feel not only 
invited but bound to exert herself to the utmost, bringing 
into operation every capability possible to her, and providing 



ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS. 815 

for every result, the achievement of which is appropriate to 
the widest conception of her legitimate sphere of action. 

3. The peculiar social condition of the American people, 
growing out of the character of our civil institutions. 

In our country, the people themselves feel but very par- 
tially the controlling power of government, both because of 
its lhnitedness, and of its feebleness, even within its own 
sphere, and because they themselves at last control its action. 
Left thus to themselves, and self-governed, it is personal vir- 
tue, and a personal sense of moral accountability, that are the 
only guarantees of right conduct, whether as to their civil 
relations or their personal responsibilities. Nor is it enough 
for the safety of any, that they themselves are rightly imbued 
with these conservative, guiding principles; but intimately 
related as each is by the bonds of society to all the rest, and 
predominating as the popular element does, and tending to 
subject every interest to conformity to its own standard, the 
proper security of each individually, both as it respects the 
public institutions under which he lives, and as it respects his 
own private history and interests, depends almost as essen- 
tially upon the right moral elevation of the great body of the 
people, as upon his own personal condition. No people ever 
so much needed right moral principle, as the controlling ele- 
ment of all action, both public and private, as the American 
people, because no people were ever so exclusively left to 
themselves individually — so effectually cut off from all other 
conservative, subordinating authority, and dependent upon it 
alone as the only reliable governing agency. 

But while there is this exclusive reliance among the Ame- 
rican people upon this moral element, as the only conservative 
saving one, both in private and public affairs, yet because of 
that very personal freedom, which is the occasion of its ne- 
cessity, there is given every opportunity for the play of every 
possible force which tends to antagonize it, Freedom itself 



316 PROGRESS. 

is an enjoyment that naturally tends to oppose it, and invites 
the manifestation of every form of vice which the selfish, 
baser passions and appetites of men would either adopt, as a 
mode of personal advantage and aggrandizement, or patron- 
ize, as a mode of personal gratification and enjoyment. What 
might be thus expected, as an inference from the general prin- 
ciples of human nature, the slightest observation will show is 
actually realized in American society. Never perhaps were 
those social forces which pander to the debasing passions and 
principles of men, which contribute to modify, to stultify, to 
eradicate the moral sense of society, more active than at pre- 
sent. It is not merely that men avail themselves of their 
personal liberties, to seek out spontaneously and incidentally 
the methods of their own criminal indulgence — it is not 
merely that they use the random, accidental opportunities that 
may occur, to betray a corrupt principle, or to follow up a 
corrupt purpose ; but in this country there are a vast variety 
of vocations, modes of livelihood, that have their foundation 
expressly in, and derive their only support from, the vicious, 
the corrupt, and corrupting tastes of the people. To make 
money, to obtain applause, men turn from the legitimate pur- 
suits of life, to devise and to use the means of making the 
corrupt tastes and passions of society tributary to their own 
interests; and under the influence of this stimulus, every 
agency of this kind, that skill and energy can possibly cause 
to obtain currency and support, is brought into use to debase 
the people. With all these influences of appetite and desire 
on the one side, and of controlling selfishness on the other, 
to put in action the agencies of evil in this country, under 
all the license guaranteed by our free institutions, who can 
estimate the amount of force now brought to bear in Ameri- 
can society, to antagonize the good, and to give ascendency 
and power to the baser elements of human nature ? 

But to drive back and successfully repress this mighty force, 



ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS. 317 

now everywhere in such active operation, and to establish and 
to maintain predominant this moral element, so essential as 
the palladium of safety to the American people, the Christian 
Church is the only possible instrumentality. However formid- 
able, in looking over society, may appear these forces of evil, 
all abroad over the land, and however indispensable this ele- 
ment which they antagonize and powerfully tend to overcome, 
yet the Christian Church embodies within herself the only 
hope of society, for the counteraction and suppression of 
the one, and the successful establishment of the other. 
Surely, then, there is a necessity for the development of all 
the power of the Church, for the exhibition and employment 
of her every possible resource. 

4. The constant and increasing influx of the tide of foreign 
emigration into our country. 

The vast and rapidly increasing accessions to our popula- 
tion from this source, are infusing elements into our midst that 
are on many accounts fearful and alarming. Nor, while the 
old countries abroad are suffering so much from over-popula- 
tion and oppressive laws, and our own free country offers so 
many advantages for easy, happy living, is this rate of in- 
crease, unless arbitrarily obstructed, likely to become less. It 
is not merely that their ignorance — which, from the fact 
that these accessions are mainly constituted of the lowest, 
most debased, of the countries from which they come, is ex- 
treme — disqualifies them for the high prerogatives of sovereign 
citizens, and that, finding themselves here released from the 
restraints which, in their native homes, held them in com- 
parative subjection, they rush to the excesses of lawless vio- 
lence, disturbing the public peace, and bringing into operation 
influences that antagonize all the higher interests of society ; 
but it is that they are for the most part the dupes of a reli- 
gion and of a priesthood, in deadly opposition to our religion, 
and that seek the overthrow of our institutions and the liber- 
27* 



318 PROGRESS. 

ties of the people, that so much is to be apprehended from 
their rapid inflowing into our midst. 

But it is not by arbitrary force or statutory regulation, as 
popular as the idea is in many quarters, that these evils, thus 
with good reason apprehended, are to be forestalled and pre- 
cluded. Agencies of this kind have been in all ages ineffect- 
ual for the suppression of evils of an intellectual and moral 
character. They are contrary to a true philosophy, and un- 
suited as they are to the genius of our government, to the 
prevailing spirit of our people, they have no adaptation to the 
ends in view, and necessarily would prove unsuccessful. It 
is the influence of light, intellectual and moral — it is the 
pressure of the powerful, ever-active agencies of knowledge 
and true religion, brought to bear all around and specifically 
among these people, that, removing their ignorance, correct- 
ing their errors, subjecting their passions, inspiring them with 
right religion, with right moral sentiment, and right self-con- 
trol, and moulding them into the spirit of our own indi- 
genous population, that would take from them those charac- 
teristics that now make their residence here so much dreaded, 
and secure to them the qualifications of harmless, if not use- 
ful citizenship. The needed weapons in this warfare are not 
to be carnal : such fail to address the causes which give rise 
to the evils apprehended, having no actual relation to them, 
and, if employed, would involve a policy wrong in itself, and 
productive of still greater evils, and without success, as to its 
specific objects. They are the weapons of intellectual and 
moral light, which this struggle now demands ; and if the just 
spirit of opposition to the evils entailed by the existence of 
this population in our midst, could be so turned as to concen- 
trate in their proper employment, not only would the result 
be obtained, sought for by those who look to the employment 
of force, of a preclusion of the evils of this population, but 



ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS. 319 

more — the conversion of this population into enterprising, 
useful inhabitants, contributing to the resources, to the pro- 
gress, and glory of our happy land. 

Not only, then, considerations of patriotism, of loyalty to 
our own religion, whose interests are imperiled, but the true 
missionary spirit of Christianity, which would seek the evan- 
gelization of this population, most of which is as far removed 
from all true religion as heathens themselves, all demand that, 
at this time, there be no reservation of strength in the Church 
of God, but that everywhere, and in highest degree, her re- 
sources, of every kind, be fully aroused and brought into 
action. 

5. The commanding advantages which the position of this 
country affords, in respect of that mighty system of means 
which Providence is employing for the evangelization of all 
mankind. 

The eyes of the civilized world are turned to our own 
country. So elevated and commanding is its position, that 
from it is perpetually going out influences, that control largely 
the current history of the world. If, then, her light be a 
true light — the light of an exalted Christian civilization, how 
great and universal are the blessings which it confers ! 

If the extensive commercial and international relationships, 
sustained by this nation towards all nations of any degree of 
social progress, and which are perpetually widening in 
extent and comprehensiveness, were pervaded and con- 
trolled by a religious element, and made to have a religious 
effect — if all these were channels, along which perpetually ran 
currents of gospel grace and influence, to reform and elevate 
the world, as will be the case in proportion as the regenerat- 
ing influences of Christianity shall have actually diffused 
themselves in the great heart of the nation, and the forces 
of society are subjected to their sway, how constantly and 
powerfully would they contribute to the accomplishment of 



320 PROGRESS. 

the great purpose of Heaven, the universal prevalence of the 
knowledge and kingdom of Christ ! 

If with all the advantages which this country enjoys — from 
her relative geographical position, from her growing interna- 
tional influence, from her facilities of access and communica- 
tion with the rest of mankind — the fervor of her religious 
zeal were to become so high and universal as to seek, as it 
certainly should, a constant outlet in deeds of missionary 
enterprise, in aggressive religious movements in other lands, 
how extensive her facilities, how full and abundant her op- 
portunities, for any possible efforts she may be able to employ, 
for any possible impress she may have capacity to make ! 

No people ever enjoyed so many advantages as the Ameri- 
can people for becoming the great agent of Providence, in 
promoting the moral progress of the world, and in furthering 
the consummation of the grand design of the world's exist- 
ence, its universal evangelization; and, sustaining this high 
relation, occupying this important position, the Church should 
not only recognize the high responsibilities thence devolving, 
but. should seek to discharge them, in the only practicable 
way, by the complete development of her entire system of 
resources. 



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